Ander's Sacrifice
by Migoto Nami
Summary: We all know the story of Lightning and everyone's journey to remove their L'Cie brands. But what about Serah and Dajh's? What if they woke up sooner than everyone thought? Rated T for safety. Some SerahxSnow maybe but mostly no parings. OCs included.
1. The Strange Feeling

Disclaimer: Do you really think I would be writing about these people if I owned them? No. -.- FFXIII belongs to Square Enix. I own nothing...cept my AWESOME car Big Bertha! God I love her :D Oh and Ander. Yea. She's mine :]

**Songs used: Kingdom Dance from Tangled, Siuil A Run by Celtic Woman**

**Sorry in advance for spelling mistakes. I wanted to get this up tonight :D**

* * *

><p>''Ander. What...what are you talking about? You can't leave! You promised that we would see Lightning together! You promised!''<p>

''I know. But I also promised I would protect you first.''

* * *

><p>''Good morning early birds! It's a wonderful morning here in Bodhum and the waves are gonna be nonstop all day! So get your surf boards and sun block ready cuz today is going to be a real-!'' The radio alarm clock abruptly stopped when an irritated hand slammed down on the top of it.<p>

''Ugh.'' the owner of the hand mumbled from underneath some dark purple covers. A girl about the age of 14 poked her head out from underneath a cocoon of blankets. She brushed a hand through her chocolate brown locks and cast her emerald gaze at the clock beside her bed to see 6:15 in bright red letters staring back at her.

She groaned and pulled herself out of bed, stretching her arms above her head to get some feeling back in them. She went over to the window and pulled the curtains back, letting the sunlight pour into the room. ''I know Skyler!'' she yelled down from her window when she heard barking from down below. ''I'm coming.''

Skyler's only reply to the girl was a bark and a swish of his white, fluffy tail. He sat down and panted lightly as he watched the back door, patiently awaiting for his master to come out. The huskey quickly jumped up and started pacing back and forth when she finally emerged wearing her work uniform and carrying a box full of different color paints and paper. ''Alright Sky. I only have a few minutes til I have to go. So make it count okay?'' she asked, letting the dog off of his leash.

She sat down on a stool on her back porch and grabbed a piece of paper, getting to work on painting a drawing of her dog, who sat by the big tree in their back yard, posing for his master like he does every morning. His girl's name is Ander and she lives alone with her father in Bodhum after he and her mother got a divorce when she was eight years old.

Ander shook her head at her drawing and bit her tongue lightly as she painted, moving her eyes from her painting to Skyler, who was used to being a model for her. Every single morning she would get up and paint him in some random pose in the back yard. Her room was full of different drawings of him and other random things. At first, Skyler wasn't the best thing to draw because he was so rambuncious, but he dulled down over time and now he was the only thing she really painted any more because her job was so tiring.

After a while, Ander frowned and put her brush down. '_I'm...I can't do this right now._' she thought to herself as a sort of funny feeling settled itself in her chest. She looked back into her house through the screen door to see the clock. She wasn't late, so why was she feeling this way? '_I've never had trouble paiting before..so... why_?' It just didn't make any sense to her but she eventually shrugged it off and went inside to get something to eat. Little did she know, though, that today was going to be the start of one of the biggest journeys of her entire life.

''Sky.'' she called when she got her breakfast ready. There was a piece of toast hanging from her mouth as she struggled to get her boots on and keep the door open so that the mutt could come inside. She held the door open with her outstretched leg as Skyler crawled underneath to get inside. ''Now you be good and I'll see you later.'' Ander said, removing the toast from her mouth and patting him on the head. She quickly grabbed her cape off the kitchen table and headed towards the door, stopping dead in her tracks when she heard a bark from behind her.

''What?'' Ander asked, irritated as she turned around. ''Oh..'' she said, feeling mean for shouting at her dog when she saw him holding her gun holster. ''Thanks, Sky.'' she patted him on the head and took her weapon from him, buckling it to her skirt before heading out the door.

* * *

><p>''Hey hey! Look who decided to show up.'' One of Ander's coworkers, Rachel, a fourty year old receptionist, teased when said girl walked into the main lobby of the Guardian Corp HQ.<p>

''What are you talking about? I'm not late.'' Ander said in her own defense as she finally snapped her cape into place, completing her Guardian Corp uniform. She smoothed out the fabric as she thought again about the feeling she had this morning. She still had no explanation and it was beginning to really bother her.

''Oh I beg to differ.'' Greg, a team member of Ander's four man squad said as he poked his head from under the desk that Rachel was sitting at, effectively rescuing the younger brunette from her thoughts.

Greg was in his mid twenties himself and had dark brown hair. He often got into trouble because of his tendency to goof off and joke around but he was good at combat and knew when to keep his mouth shut. Ander particularly didn't like him much but she delt with him because she had to.

He shifted his eyes from her to the clock that was hanging on the wall and grinned.

''What in the name of all that is decent are you DOING under my desk, boy?'' Rachel asked, glaring at Greg, who blinked innocently up at her.

''Noooooothin'.'' he said, going under the desk again.

''Bullshit. You were looking for my stash of oreos weren't you?''

''You have a stash of oreos under here?''

Ander frowned as she watched them fight. ''Idiots.'' she said under her breathe and left to go to the training room. Work had been considerably slow lately because of the recent Pulse Fal'Cie that was found near Bodhum. Every one of the city's occupants, except for soldies, had been sent off to be purged for the safety of everyone else on Cocoon. The Bodhum GC and some members of Psicom stayed behind in town to eliminate any lasting threats from Pulse or purge any remaining citizens so that the city could be inhabitable again as quickly as possible. So far everything was quiet and Ander was hating it. Her team was the only one that wasn't out scouting or doing something productive and it was so boring her to no end.

The Guardian Corp usually didn't take on soldiers as young as Ander, because they couldn't go out of dangerous missions until they had nine months of training with a squad, which was why her team was just lazing around while everyone was working. Ander's father was high rank and he begged for them to let her join, and he eventually got them to agree. She's been working here for almost a year and a half now and only had a few weeks to go before she could go out with her team on missions.

''Hey, Sparky!''

''What do you want, Farix?'' the young GC member asked when another member of her squad came up to walk beside her.

Farix was a tall blonde with brown eyes and a cheery personality. He was a lot more mature then Greg and knows full well that the GC isn't a job to be fooling around in. He is very intelligent and is one of the best gunslingers GC has to offer.

''Nothing..nothing.'' the blonde said, holding his hands up infront of him in surrender. ''I was just wondering where Bolt was...''

''I don't know where _Lightning_ is.'' Ander replied back as she opened the door to the GC training courtyard.

''Oh... so I guess it's true then. Hmm..interesting.'' Farix said, tapping his chin with his finger as he pondered.

''What?'' the younger soldier asked, not turning around as she unsheathed her gun from her holster. She knew full well that he wouldn't stop dropping hints that he knew something until she humored him.

''That she quit.''

Ander nearly dropped her gun.

''What?'' she asked, turning around quickly. ''Why?'' The pink haired GC had been absent from work for almost a week but she thought it was an illness or something, not that she would just up and quit.

''Don't look at me.'' Farix said, shaking his head as he leant against one of the walls of the courtyard. ''I just heard a couple of the higher ups talking yesterday. I would have stuck around to hear the whole thing, but I had to go.''

Ander was silent for a moment as she put her gun away. She crossed her arms and frowned at her team mate. ''That...doesn't make any sense.'' Lightning didn't love her job but she didn't hate it either. ''She's been working here for over five years. So..why quit now of all times?'' It wasn't like she got purged or anything. Soldiers were exempt.

''Yea. Sorry, And. I know that you guys wer-''

''_Attention GC squad three. Report to briefing room 5. There is a mission waiting for you._''

''What the hell?'' Farix pondered aloud while he listened to Rachel repeat the same statement again over the intercom.

'_But..I'm not..._' Ander thought to herself before snapping her head to the door to see Greg grinning at them.

''C'mon kiddies. Let's go!'' he said and pumped his fist in the air before heading down the hall. ''Oh yea! A mission! Whoo! I hope we get ta kill something!''

Farix shook his head and opened the door to leave. He stopped and looked back at the younger GC. ''Ander?''

''Huh?'' said girl asked, looking up. She was holding a hand to her stomach as she started to feel the same felling from this morning again, only worse this time.

''We have to go. C'mon.'' Farix said, wincing and staring down the hall when he heard Greg start singing about Mount Smokey being covered in blood.

''..Alright.''

* * *

><p>Briefing room five was a small business room with a wood table in the center with about eight chairs surrounding it. The room smelled of lemons and the table shined brightly from the lighting overhead and the atmosphere was very unpleasant to be in.<p>

Ander took a seat inbetween the two older GC's of her squad and frowned when she looked to her left to see Farix sitting there instead of Lightning.

''Hey guys.'' Leiutenant Dover said, giving a friendly smile when all of them were seated.

''Yo.'' Greg said in response and saluted with two fingers.

''Good morning.'' Farix said while Ander just nodded in greeting.

''So. I bet your wondering why I called you.''

''Hell no. I'm just glad you did. I was about to eat my office chair I was so bored.'' Greg said exasperatedly.

''Yes..'' Leiutenant said, raising an eyebrow. ''Well, myself and few others have decided to send you out on a mission firstly because you are the only team available and secondly because it's not that big of a mission and I believe Ander can handle it, even if you've not met 9 months with this team yet.''

''Thank you, sir.'' Ander said, somewhat at war with herself. Part of her was excited to be finally going on a mission but another part reminded her of that feeling she kept getting. ''I will try to uphold that belief.''

Lieutenant Dover smiled at her and picked up a remote that was on the table. He stood up and pressed a button, causing a screen to come down behind him. He stepped out of the way and pressed another button, causing a short clip to show of someone running through the wooded area near to Bohdum.

When it was over, Farix sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. ''So...''

''So what? There's some dude running around? Big deal. He's not even in the city.'' Greg said, sitting back as well and crossing his arms behind his head.

''No but they are still near to the city. Bohdum, the neighboring woods and beaches are all under our jurisdiction and it is our job to make sure everything is vacated as soon as possible so that we can repopulize.''

''So you want us to track this guy down...and then what?'' Farix asked.

''Bring them back here to be purged.'' Lieutenant Dover said, sitting down again but leaving the screen on with a picture of the person on it.

''Aw man! I wanted to kill somethin'!''

''Greg, not everything we do here revolves around mass murder.'' Dover said, frowning.

''Well it should!''

The conversation continued but Ander wasn't listening to the rest. Her eyes were locked on the picture on the screen. It was hazy, the camera only getting a small glimpse because it was hidden within the trees, but there was no mistake in what color hair that person had.

Pink.

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><p><strong>EEEEEeeeekkk! Firstly guys, I wanna say that I'm sorry this isn't so detailed and very short. I wanted to just give a short introduction to the idea to see if anyone likes it so that I might continue with this. If anyone does, great! If not, then I won't be hurt.<strong>

**Secondly, please do not think of Ander as a mini-Lightning. She's not. Believe me -.-**

**Thirdly, my chaps will be short and frequent instead of long and far between. I don't know how long this will be and I do have a basic plot in mind but nothing set in stone yet.**

**Lastly, the members of ffxiii will be in shortly. Next chap, promise. :D let me know what you think okay. Reviews= much loves and virtual cookies! :DDDD**

**See ya guys later!**

**~Migoto Nami**


	2. Serah Farron

Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING! Cept Ander. FFXIII's awesomeness is owned by Square Enix.

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><p>''<em>Serah!''<em>

''_Hold on baby. Your hero's on the way!''_

'_Hold…on?_'

Torquoise eyes shot open as their owner sat up into a sitting position. ''Snow?'' she asked, looking around. She slowly lifted herself off of the floor and frowned when she realized that she had no idea where she was.

''How?''

''Hey!'' the sudden voice from behind scared her half to death. She looked up and saw 5 soldiers coming at her to see what happened. Before they could get to her, though, she took off running down a long stretch of walkway in the middle of what looked to be an aircraft hanger.

She continued to run faster and faster to get away from the soldiers, not hearing their shouts of ''Hey wait!'' and ''We're not going to hurt you!'' Her legs were sore from being in the same position for days, but she pushed the pain to the back of her mind for later.

She hanged a left and opened a big red door to reveal a forest. The sun was warm on her skin and the slight wind offered little comfort for her in the sweltering heat as she continued to run off of a ramp down to the ground. She ran into a few more soldiers that were carrying a box up onto the ship, making them nearly drop it.

''Watch where your going, lady!'' one of them shouted angrily and shook his fist in her general direction as she took off into the forest.

* * *

><p>''General Raines!''<p>

''Hm?'' Raines responded when hearing his name. He didn't address the soldier behind him more than that. He stood staring at the last spot where he saw the girl before she vanished completely into the woods.

''Farron has escaped. Do you wish to order pursuit, sir?'' the soldier asked, keeping his hand raised to his forehead in a salute.

Cid Raines was silent for a moment as he regarded his options.

''No. We will see her again soon enough.''

''Yes sir.'' The soldier said, nodding.

''Good. Dismissed.''

* * *

><p>Ander frowned as she resisted the urge to cover her ears. The air bike she was riding on wasn't exactly the quietest thing ever, and the fact that she had to be cramped behind Farix wasn't helping.<p>

She and her team had just set out to complete their mission only a few minutes ago and already she was feeling nauseous and irritated. The seat was uncomfortable, the wind was harsh and Greg wasn't concentrating at all on the mission. He was a mile ahead of them doing cartwheels in the sky.

''Hey Farix!'' she called over the loud thunder of the hover bikes, desperate to take her mind away from her uncomfort.

''Yea?''

''So who exactly would be left to be in the woods? I thought everyone was sent off to be purged.'' Ander said, practically yelling.

''Well… I heard that the Lindblum was docked in some wooded area near Treno. Maybe someone wandered over here by mistake.'' Farix said, his eyebrows coming together as he considered the possibilities.

Treno was just a short ways away from Bohdum. It was a big city and lots of people visited there year round to see the site of 'The Dark City,' where it was always night. There were woods surrounding Treno as well and both the GC and the Cavalry had rest stops there so ships could stock up on fuel.

''Do you think so?'' Ander asked, frowning when she saw Greg come and fly up beside them.

''Yea. I do.''

''You do what?'' Greg asked, trying to be cool by steering with his elbows.

''Nothing.'' Ander said, irritated. ''You're going to crash.''

In response, Greg laughed and started steering with his knees instead. He leaned back and put his arms behind his head. ''I think_ someone's_ a little edgy about their first mission.'' The older GC said in a sing song voice.

''No I am not!'' Ander said, turning her head away from him. ''Hmph!''

''Oh come on, And!'' Greg said, poking fun at her. ''You can't hide from me. I know you've got to be nervous.''

''Cut it out.''

''Quiet you two!'' Farix said suddenly. He brought his hover bike to a stop and poked his head over the side of the bike.

''What?'' Greg asked, stopping his bike too.

''I could have sworn I…'' Farix said, frowning. ''Yea I did. Look!'' he said, pointing down below.

Ander poked her head over the side as well to see something pink down there. ''What are they doing?''

''It looks like he's failing at making a figure eight.'' Greg said, snickering as he watched the person move in a circle. He revved up his hoverbike and took off.

Farix was about to pursue as well but he stopped and looked back at Ander.

''What?'' she asked, raising an eyebrow.

''I got an idea.''

* * *

><p>The pink haired girl put a hand to her chest as she breathed. It was becoming really difficult to keep going. Her legs felt like jelly and she felt a painful stitch in her side. '<em>I can't go on...<em>' she thought to herself, leaning her shoulder against a tree a she tried to regulate her breathing.

At least the sun was going to go down in a few hours so that she could be a bit cooler but that wasn't going to help her much because she couldn't see in the dark. ''Where am I anyway?'' she thought aloud, suddenly realizing how much trouble she was in right now. She was alone, in the woods, with no civilization close by. She didn't know what time it was or even what day it was. She had no means of staying warm if it got cold. She didn't have anything to contant someone and no weapon to defend herself with either. She was royally screwed.

Serah frowned as she heard the sound of some beast howling off in the distance. '_What am I going to do?_' She thought, feeling really sorry for herself and getting more freaked out by the minute. She could have sworn that the noises were getting closer. It sounded like an engine growling this time. '_That's odd. What if it's a rabid behemoth or... or something worse? Wait, no. Serah calm down. You're not going to get anywhere if you panic._'

She pushed herelf off of the tree and started pacing in a small circle. She put a finger to her lips as she thought. ''Okay. The last thing I remember is...having a fight with sis. And then running away from Psicom with Snow but...that doesn't make any sense. How did I end up here then? I remember sleeping... Then did I?'' she asked herself hesistantly before pulling off her bandages on her left arm.

''No.'' she said, disappointed as she saw a black tatoo staring back at her. ''I guess not.'' She tied the bandage back on and then heard that sound again, way to close for comfort this time. She looked up and gasped to see a hoverbike right above her.

''Hey sweetcheeks. What you doin' all the way out here?'' A guy with brown hair wearing a uniform that was similar to his sisters grinned at her.

Serah backed up, her hand over her bandage, staring at him as he flew his hoverbike behind her and honked. She turned around just in time to see his eyes flick off to the left for a brief moment. She looked that way to see another hover bike. ''Oh no...'' she whispered. Even though these people might be Gcs, that didn't mean that they weren't going to kill her. Lightning herself said that it would be her job to deal with her if she really were a L'Cie. That thought made Serah's heart squeeze a little and she placed her hand over it to ease the pain.

The brown haired guy nodded to the other hover bike and Serah didn't stick around to see any more. She took off back in the direction from whence she came, away from them.

''She fell for it?'' Farix asked, driving up beside his team mate.

''Yea.'' Greg said, grinning. ''Now let's get pinky here on the right path.''

* * *

><p>Serah's heart protested by beating at an abnormal rate as she ran once again. She screamed when one of them suddenly shot at her, taking her by surprise. It knocked up some dirt behind her and it spattered against the back of her legs. She jumped over a fallen log and they shot once again, knocking some wood at her from behind as the bullets inbetted into the piece of fallen lumber.<p>

'_Why aren't their bullets hitting me?_' She thought as she ran. The forest wasn't really that dense and she knew that they had to be good shots if they were in the GC. So why weren't they connecting? A crazy thought came into her head as she heard them fire at the ground behind her once again. '_Unless...they don't want to shoot me._'

Serah winced when a tree branch scraped against her leg. She stumbled a bit and closed her eyes for a second, knowing that if there was anytime to shoot something, it was when the target tripped or fell. Her eyes snapped open when nothing came and she frowned. '_Yea. That's got to be it. They're not trying to kill me._' She chanced a look behind her at the bikes. '_Do they not know I'm a L'Cie? Well, either way. They're not getting the best of me. I won't fall for it.' _

She waited until they shot at her again and when they did, she stopped and dug her feet into the soil before jumping backwards and running underneath the airbikes as they shot at her. She narrowly missed a bullet to the face as she dodged. They apparently weren't suspecting that as it took them a minute to register and turn around, giving her just enough time to run in a random direction and hide in the brush.

They must have thought she would be too dumb or scared to figure it out and pull something like running into the direct line of fire. '_Well too bad for them._' she thought, smiling. '_If it's one thing sis taught me, it's never to be scared of gunfire._'

* * *

><p>''Aw damn! I can't find her!'' Greg said, stopping after a long while of searching. He stopped his bike and pressed a button, bringing Farix's face up on a screen. ''I have no idea where she is. Do you have a clue?''<p>

Farix shook his head. ''No. Looks like she's not as stupid as we thought.''

''Ah what the hell!'' Greg said, kicking his bike in frustration.

''Don't worry, we'll find her. Remember. Ander's still out there.'' Farix said, keeping his face neutral. His idea had been to split up the team so that Ander looked on the ground while he and Greg searched from the sky. It was a good idea and gave them more free range too look seeing as there were places where air bikes just couldn't fit.

''Do you really think And can find her?'' Greg asked, sitting up in his chair and getting a serious look on his face. ''She hasn't had any experience with tracking except for the training exercises we did.''

''I know. But Leiutenant Dover has faith in her.'' the blonde haired GC said, remember their talk this morning.

''Oh please. That guy would have faith in a tomato.'' Greg said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. ''Besides, we're running out of feul and daylight. The suns already setting.''

''Give it time, Greg. I'm sure Ander will find a way.''

* * *

><p>Ander was cautious as she roamed the forest, looking for her target. She kept her ears and eyes alert and a hand on her gun at all times. There was no telling what could be lurking these woods.<p>

She had been down here for nearly four hours, looking for that girl. When seeing her, she had been really disappointed that it wasn't Lightning. There was something that she needed to talk with the older GC about.

Ander frowned as she continued to stealthily make her way through the forest, like she was taught to in her training. She kept her movements slow and made sure her footing wasn't too noisy, lest she give away her position. '_This is rediculous.' _she thought, stopping._ 'How hard is it to find someone with pink hair?_' She took another step to continue and shut her eyes when something shined in them. She put a hand over her face and looked around to see the source of the light.

There wasn't any glass on the forest floor around her nor anything else that might make a bright light shine with the last rays of the sun during the day. Ander creeped forward to where the light was coming from, making sure to be quiet. She poked her head from around a small tree and smirked to herself when she found the girl she was looking for.

She was bent over with her knees on her legs as she panted. She was sweaty and had some cuts from running through some brush. Her hair was long and pink and there was a shiny hair tye that was holding it together. It gleamed in the sunset's rays, casting a beam of light without her knowing.

'_Found you._' Ander thought to herself, getting closer and drawing her gun.

* * *

><p>Serah panted harshly as she took a little break from keeping out of sight of the bikes. Those things moved fast and there was a few times when they almost found her, but she prevailed. There was only a few more minutes of sun left before night fell and they would surely have to stop looking for her. Then she could get out of this forest and focus on finding someone who could help her get home. She stood up straight again and dusted her skirt off for a moment before turning around to find another hiding spot.<p>

She gasped and backed up into the tree when she found a gun in her face. ''How did you?'' she asked, in shock. She was sure that there was no one behind her a second ago. This girl had wavy brown hair and was wearing the same uniform as Lightning. Half of her hair was tied up and the other half was down. She had green eyes and looked just as shocked as she did for some reason.

Ander lowered her gun slightly. This girl. She could have sworn that she saw her before. But where? '_Oh!_' She suddenly remembered a conversation she had with Lightning one day.

_''Okay. Here's your lunch. Do I get a thank you, Miss high and mighty?'' Ander smiled as she gave Lightning the sandwich that she asked her to get._

_''Thanks.'' Lightning said, taking the food from her and typing something on a computer in her office with her other hand. Lightning's office was medium sized and didn't have nearly any personal items in it except for one picture on her desk. She didn't spend that much time in here because she was always out on the field doing something. The only reason she was in here today was because she had to write up a mission report._

_''Your welcome.'' Ander said in response and turned to leave, stopping for a moment as the picture frame caught her eye. She never noticed it before now. ''Hey, Lightning?''_

_''Yea?'' said woman asked, not looking at the trainee as she simultaneously took a bite of her lunch and typed._

_''Who is this?'' the younger girl asked, picking up the picture and looking at it. There were two girls smiling together in it. One was obviously Lightning. She had a small smile on her face and looked around 15 in the picture while the other girl looked a few years younger and had a big grin on her face. The girl's hair was medium length and was tied in a side ponytail. Her eyes were the same color as Lightning's and they were happy as she waved to the camera in delight._

_Lightning lowered her sandwich and stopped typing for a moment. ''That's my sister.'' She said. ''Serah.'' _

'_Could this really be her?_' Ander thought. She definitely looked similar to Lightning. And she had the same hairstyle as the girl in the photo. She raised her gun up again at her and she visibly flinched at having a killing weapon right in her face. ''Name.''

Serah was taken aback for a moment. She expected to be shot by now. ''Um..what?''

''Your name.'' Ander repeated, frowning.

''Serah Farron.''

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><p><strong>EEEE! whoo! Another chap done! :D Damn, that was fun to write. But not as fun as the next chap will be. I'm gonna start it today :3 I can't wait :D more stuff about Ander and Lightning and stuffs on the way.<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed this chappie and got the hint that im not making Serah into a little doll who can't think or protect herself. She can't really fight yet but she will. :] she's gonna be b.a. like her sis :]**

**Please review if you found you liked this. It makes me write faster no matter what I get. Flames are welcome. They warm my coffee 8D I'll see you later gators! Beh!**

**~Migoto Nami**

**(P.S. I have found a theme song for Lightning. It's Bossy by Kelis. I think it fits quite well :])**

**(P.S.S. What is up with the names in this game? Lightning. Snow. Raines. What? Does S.E. have a weather fetish or something? XD)**


	3. Traveling Companions

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. NOTHING! Cept Ander. FFXIII's awesomeness is owned by Square Enix.**

**Song used: Death Mountain from Zelda Twilight Princess**

**P.S. this isn't really edited so i apologize for mistakes XD  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Serah Farron groaned quietly to herself as she reached up and grabbed onto a rock to pull herself up higher. She stopped for a minute and panted, making sure to have a solid grip on the rock formation. The rocks were cool and felt good against the heated skin of her hand. She looked down and mentally scolded herself when she saw she was only about 10 feet off the ground.<p>

''I can not _believe_ that you two are related.'' Serah looked up and frowned at Ander, who was laying on her stomach, one fist resting against her chin and her elbow on the ground as she stared at Serah. ''Are you positive that Lightning's your sister?'' she asked, getting bored of waiting around for the older girl.

''Well. Excuse me if I haven't...'' she paused to climb up a little higher. ''trained in this stuff.''

Ander sighed and turned over onto her back and looked up at the stars. ''You could help me you know!'' she heard Serah complain from down below.

''You're a big girl. You can handle it.'' Ander retorted back. She didn't mean to be so rude to Serah. She could tell that the older girl was struggling, but she wanted a little bit of time to herself at the moment. She was never any good with talking to new people. It took her four months to start bonding with her team because she was just too shy. Most Gcs would work and then go celebrate or do something with her team mates, but not her. She wasn't antisocial, she just, had trouble speaking with others when not working. Her father referred to her as being shy and she didn't disagree. It took a lot for her to open up to people, even more so now because of the event that happened a week and a half ago. She didn't want to get close to anyone.

''So, uh.'' Serah's voice, which was significantly closer, pulled Ander out of her musings. ''What's you name? You uh.. you didn't say.'' she said, trying to strike up a conversation. Serah herself didn't like the quiet. Especially not out here. It was sort of like being in a haunted house. You don't want the quiet because you want to know someone is there to watch your back.

''Ander Amodar.''

''Oh! I've definitely heard that name some where.'' Serah said, stopping in her climb to try and remember.

''I'm the daughter of your sister's boss.'' Ander said, withdrawing her arms so that they weren't hanging over the edge of the rock face.

Serah frowned. That response sounded a little weird to her. She shrugged it off though and started climbing again. ''So _you're_ Leiutenant Amodar's daughter.''

''Yep.''

Serah's smiled a little when she heard the girl's original tone come back. That response she made earlier bothered her a bit and she hoped the younger girl was okay. She didn't push the subject and ask that, though. If Ander wanted to tell her, then she would in due time. They're going to be spending a while with each other either way...

_''Serah Farron.'' Serah said, shutting her eyes tightly and blocking her face. She heard a click and prepared herself for the worst._

_''I thought so.'' she heard the other girl say and she opened her eyes to see the GC put away her gun. ''You two look a lot alike.''_

_''What?'' the youngest Farron asked, confused._

_''Lightning.'' was all the GC said in response._

_''Sis?'' Serah asked, slowly putting her arms back down to her sides._

_''Yea...'' Ander said, turning around. ''Follow me.'' she said and started to walk away. ''I'll take you away from my team.''_

_''Wait. Why are you helping me?''_

_''Lightning and I...well I guess you could say that we're friends... I think.'' the younger girl didn't seem too sure of herself. She stopped but didn't turn around. ''We work on the same team and I owe her so I guess I'll help you out.'' _

_Serah frowned and took a step forward. ''How do I know I can trust you?'' she asked, not too happy about being shot at earlier._

_Ander turned back to her and then looked up to see air bikes flying over head. They didn't see them because the girls were in the thick brush. She looked back down at Serah and gave her a hard stare. ''Do you want to be purged?''_

_Serah was quick to respond, ''No.''_

_''Then follow me.''_

* * *

><p>A happy smile made its way onto Serah's face when she finally reached the top. ''Finally!'' she said and collapsed onto the ground once she pulled herself up.<p>

''Don't get comfy. We still have a ways to go.'' Ander replied, her hands on her hips as she stared down at Serah.

''But!'' Serah said, sitting up. ''I just made it up here. And where are we going anyway?''

''We're going back to Bohdum. You can get transportation there.'' Ander said, turning around and taking off down the dirt path. There were lots of small rocks and grass surrounding the are. There were flowers here and there as well. The moonlight made the lighter pinks and yellows of the flowers look darker, but still beautiful all the same and the trees blew a magestic song to the winds and created a soothing sound.

''And where exactly.'' Serah said, getting up. ''Would I be going?''

''I don't know.'' Ander shrugged. ''To find your sister I guess.''

''You don't know?'' Serah asked, jogging to catch up. ''I thought you wanted to come and see Lightning too.''

''I never said that.''

''But...'' the Farron said, running in front of Ander and making her stop. ''You told me earlier that there was no one in Bohdum but soldiers. How am I supposed to get by them without being sent on the purge train?''

''That's easy. All the soldiers are out on missions including my team so there's no one in the city.'' Ander said, frowning.

''Then uh...what about your team? Won't they come looking and find us?''

''I'll just tell them the truth. It's not like they purposely want to purge their team mate's family.'' Ander said, crossing her arms as some wind blew onto her.

''Then why can't I just stay in Bohdum?''

''Because Lightning quit.''

Serah was silent for a moment ''What?'' she asked, shocked.

''I don't know the details, but she did. That's why you can't stay.'' Ander said, walking around Serah and continuing onward. ''I can only do so much. If you stay, soldiers will find you and then find out that Lightning quit and you'll be purged.''

''But-'' Serah started.

''What's the problem?'' Ander asked, stopping turning around with a frustrated look on her face. ''I know it's hard giving up your home, but it's not like its forever. You'll be able to come back once we get the okay for Bohdum to be repopulated. So just find Lightning and wait til then.''

Serah was silent so the GC took that as a sign of agreement and continued onward. She stopped however when she heard the Farron say something.

''I... I don't know where she is. I don't know where anyone is. My boyfriend, my friends. No one.''

Ander's eyes downcast and got a sad gleam to them. She knew where they most likely were.

''You said that... Bohdum was empty. Do you mean they were...?'' Serah asked, taking a step forward.

''Purged most likely.'' She didn't sugar coat it for her. That would only cause Serah more suffering in the end.

Serah's eyes widened and she took a few steps backwards. ''No...'' she whispered, feeling light headed.

Ander sighed and turned around. ''I'm sorry.''

''No, don't be. It's...it's not your didn't...cause the Pulse Fal'Cie to be found or became a L'Cie or anything like that...'' Serah said, feeling tears come on. '_This is all my fault. All those people... because I messed up._'

''Serah.'' Suddenly Ander was only a foot away from her. ''If it makes you feel any better. I'm sure that Lightning's fine. She's one of the strongest people I know.'' she said, trying to comfort the older girl but feeling that she wasn't doing a very good job.

To her surprise, Serah laughed a little bit and wiped away her tears. ''Yea. You're probably right. She is. And my boyfriend's probably fine too. He's too lovable for someone to purge.'' she said, pushing every into the back of her mind and taking her own advice. '_If it's too much to deal with, face it later._'

Ander nodded. ''I'm sure you'll find them.''

''Yea but... I just wish I didn't have to go alone though.'' Serah said, rubbing her forearms as she suddenly realized how chilly she was. ''Knowing Lightning, she's probably not going to be somewhere that's easy to find.''

Ander walked up beside her. ''Just, when you find her. Tell her that I need to talk to her.''

''Why don't you come and tell her yourself?'' Serah suddenly asked. She stopped and put a hand over her mouth. She didn't mean to ask that. ''I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. I wouldn't give up my job to travel all over with someone I just met.'' Deep down though, Serah did wish that she would come with her. Ander knew how to fight and she didn't. Also, she didn't want to be left alone with her thoughts. The pink haired girl knew that she would dwell on those bad thoughts at the wrong time and get into trouble. If someone else came along, though, she could just talk to her when she felt those thoughts enter her mind and distract herself.

Ander continued onwards as she considered her options, not bothering to stop when Serah did. If she went with her, she wouldn't be bored. She could tell Lightning what she needed to and she could gain some field experience. It sounded like a good idea but how would she get GC to agree? And could she handle being around Serah for that long? Whenever she talked to the youngest Farron, she felt extrememly awkward. She didn't want to end up bonding with the older girl. She didn't want to get hurt again. But Lightning might not be that far away anyway. But wait, would Serah even want her to come? She's not very good company.

''Do you want me to?'' she asked before she could even think about what she was doing.

Serah looked at her for a moment. ''Ander.'' she said. ''I would like that. Very much. If you would come with me. A friend of my sister's is a friend of mine.'' she said, smiling.

''You sure you just don't want a body guard?''

''No not at all.'' Serah said. ''I can't fight like Lightning, but I'm certainly not useless.'' she said, laughing and punching a fist into her open palm.

''We'll see.'' Ander said and took off again, her cape flying behind her because of the random gust of wind that came towards them.

''I'll show you! Don't worry!'' Serah said, running to catch up. ''Wait. Does this mean you're coming with me then?''

''We'll see.'' Ander said in an amused tone and Serah instantly knew that she was going to come and that made her happy that she wouldn't be alone one this journey. That made her as happy as can be._ 'I just hope she doesn't find out, though._' Serah thought, unconciously putting a hand over her bandaged forearm as the two of them made their way back to Bohdum.

* * *

><p><strong>Phew! Done! Wow what a rush. I can't believe I did all that in one sitting XD Well, I hope that gave you a little bit about Ander's character. She's not strong minded like Lightning, she's got very low self esteem when talking to people. She'll get better though, you'll see. I hope I didn't butcher Serah's character by the way. I tried not to, I really did.<strong>

**Btw, don't know when Dajh is coming in. Might be a bit later cuz I want the girls to bond a bit. Also light and the gang never make an appearance in this story except for flashbacks. I might bring in a special guest from the group though. Maybe . .**

**Anyways, review please lovlies and I shall giveth thee some pie :D Til next time, beh!**

**~ Migoto Nami**


	4. Serah Gets A Weapon!

**Disclaimer: Ander is mine. Everyone else, not so much. FFXIII belongs to SE.**

**Song used: Hair by Lady Gaga(which I will no forever associate with Serah -.-)**

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><p>Ander's house was quiet and homy. That was the first thing Serah noticed when entering the medium sized house. There was a hallway leading into the kitchen from the front door and the walls of it were covered in paintings. There were some of the beaches in Bohdum, some of forest and skys, some of different GC memebers and there was even one of Ander and her team.<p>

Serah stopped in her treck into the house to touch her finger to the painted picture of her sister. She frowned, thinking of where she might be and if she was mad at her or not.

_''But don't forget. If you really are a L'Cie, then it's my job to deal with you.''_

Lightning sounded so sure of herself. Like she would kill her own sister if it came to that. That thought made Serah even more depressed. She didn't like when she and her sister fought. It happened very rarely but when it did, it usually ended badly. That's why she didn't want to tell her sister at first, but she knew if she didn't find out from her then she would still find out eventually. There was nothing she could have done.

The pinkette could hear Ander talking on a phone in the kitchen. She had said that she would clear everything up and then they would get going. Serah really needed to thank her again. She had done it about three times since the brunette had agreed to come with her but she just wanted to make sure the younger girl knew just how much this meant to her. It's not every day you meet someone who would willingly travel with you after you just met.

Serah brought her hand away from the painting and made her way into the kitchen. She was very surprised to see a white siberian husky standing curled around Ander. It heard her come in and bared its teeth at her. ''Um..'' was all she could think to say. She didn't know that Ander had a dog.

''Alright. Yea. I think so. Hold on.'' Ander said and turned her attention to Serah, ignoring the rabid looking dog at her feet.

''Okay, so my boss is all for it. He never liked the idea of the purge in the first place and since you are the family of a former GC he doesn't see any problem with not purging you.'' she said, placing the phone against her shoulder so that she could have her full attention on Serah.

Serah was silent for a moment as she backed up against a wall to keep her distance away from the dog. ''Um...cool.'' was all she could think to say as she kept her eyes on the canine at all time. It's eyes were starting to freak her out. It looked like it wanted to eat her!

''And he said that I could come one on condition.'' Serah moved her eyes up to Ander. ''We have to convince Lightning to rejoin the Guardian Corp.''

''Oh is that it?'' Serah asked, giving a sort of awkward laugh when Ander's dog snarled at her. ''No problem. I can handle that.''

''You sure?''

''Yea. I think...'' Lightning always did everything in her power to make Serah happy and the younger Farron hoped that she could convince her. The two of them were having a tiff right now but the least she could do is try.

''Alright then.'' Ander responded and turned her attention back to the phone. She was actually really surprised that Dover was going to let her go, but then again he did profit from this. Lightning was about to get a promotion before she quit and she _is_ one of the best fighters GC has. They could only benefit with having her back.

She put the phone to her ear, ''Leiutenant. That request is definitely in our power, sir.''

He seemed really happy about this as he said. ''Good. You are dismissed then and don't worry about your team. I'll explain.''

''Thank you so much, sir. I will try and complete this task quickly.'' Ander said, ignoring the slight chill she felt when Skyler walked away from her.

''Thank you. I'll see you when you get back.''

''Yes. Good bye.'' Ander said and hung up the phone. She looked over to Serah and raised an eyebrow. Skyler was only about a foot away from Serah, who had grabbed the nearest object, a ketchup bottle, and was holding it in the dog's direction to keep distance between them. Sky's teeth were bared and he had a look of killing intent visible in his eyes.

''Ander. Why is he so angry at me? What did I do?'' Serah pointed to the dog as he practically had her backed up into a corner.

Ander sighed and walked over to Skyler. ''He thinks you are an imposter.''

''An imposter?'' Serah asked, feeling great relief when the younger girl took the dog's attention away from her.

''Of Lightning. Your hair is on the left like hers and your scent is probably almost the same as hers.'' the brunette said and forced the dog to look at her, giving Skyler a hard stare. ''Now listen, Sky. This is Serah. Not Lightning.'' the dog seemed to understand and relaxed some. He took an unsure step towards the pinkette.

''Serah.'' Ander said, getting her attention. ''Just relax and stay still.''

Serah gulped and hesistantly put down her ketchup bottle. She kept her hands at her sides. ''Okay.''

Skyler went up to her and sniffed her hand and then walked in a circle around her, sniffing. ''What's he-?'' Serah tried to ask only to be shushed at. When the dog finished his circle, he licked Serah's hand and sat down, looking up at her with a cute face.

''What?'' the pinkette asked, confused about what the fudge just happened.

''He was learning your scent so that he knows your a friend and not a foe.'' the younger girl said, patting Sky's head affectionately. ''Sorry about that, he's a GC dog.'' Ander said, pulling back on Skyler's collar when he went to sniff her again.

''Oooooh.'' Serah said, realizing that that made a lot of sense. ''So that's how he knows sis.''

The brunette nodded. ''He used to come into work all the time.'' Ander said, turning around and heading up the stairs that were against the left wall of the room.

''Used to?'' Serah asked, following her. She noticed that the younger girl wasn't really a talkative person. Her sentences were short and she seemed really tense. The pinkette didn't mind, though. Her sister was almost the same way. So she was used to it and she made up for it by trying to be the more talkative of the two. If they both were quiet then they're journey together would be both boring and awkward. Plus Serah thought it would benefit her if she learned a bit about Ander and hoped they could be friends.

''He's retired now.''

''Why?'' the pinkette asked, stopping on the stairs and looked back into the kitchen at Skyler, who had made himself comfortable on the floor. ''He doesn't look that young.''

''It's...'' Ander said, turning to the right and entering a room. ''complicated. Come in here.''

The older girl took the rest of the stairs two at a time and went into the room. This room had wood flooring and brown wallpaper. It had a serious atmosphere due to what was located within. There were swords, guns, maces, scythes. Basically anything someone would imagine when they thought of a weapon shop.

Serah looked around in awe at all the variety. ''What's-?''

''My father's weapon collection.'' Ander said. She was holding a rather large looking gun that looked similar to Lightning's, only this one was bigger, shinier and looked even more deadly. The young GC pressed a button on the weapon and it smoothly flipped open into a sword. ''This was his favorite.'' she said and smiled to herself for a moment before removing her own gun and putting that one in its place. She looked over at Serah. ''I know that you know that we might have to fight out there so take your pick. Anything you want.''

Serah wrung her hands and looked around. There was so much to choose from. ''Are you sure he won't get mad that we're taking his stuff?'' she asked hesistantly. She didn't want to just take someone's things without asking.

''I'm sure.'' Ander said, nodding.

''If you're sure.'' Serah said and walked around the room, looking for something that caught her eye. She didn't want a gun because the one time Snow let her try one, she almost took his head off. She smiled at the memory of her boyfriend and wondered where he was too. Knowing him, he was probably looking for her right now. She missed him so much and only hoped that he wasn't getting into too much trouble. They had never been seperated for this long in all the 13 months that they have been together.

She sighed as she thought of her love. She wished she could see him again soon. His loving smile, his soft kisses, his larges hands that hers fit so well with. Serah turned her thoughts around and continued with her task of picking something. There were times for thoughts like that and now wasn't it. The pinkette walked curiously through the room as she thought. She didn't want a sword because she would have to get in close to attack something. She picked up a scythe. It was long and looked to be very sturdy, but it was too heavy. She frowned and put it back.

''Do you have something that's a little lighter?'' Serah asked, looking back at Ander over her shoulder.

The younger girl jumped slightly when the pinkette spoke. She had been admiring her father's gunblade and had almost forgotten that she was there. She was going to have to get used to being around Serah, she mused. It was different, but it wasn't that bad. At least she wasn't rude or overly talkative.

Ander leaned back against a wall, making sure to rest her head against it rather than the sharp sword that rested about two inches above her. ''Hm...'' she crossed her arms and looked around. ''I have some light pistols...''

Serah made a face. ''Do you have any long ranged weapon that isn't a gun? I...don't have very good aim with those things.'' she gave a sheepish smile.

''I...don't think so. Father favored guns more than anything else. The only other thing I could think of is that hammer he got for cheap in Mibgar.''

''Where is it?'' Serah asked, an excited gleam coming to her eye. She'd take anything over a gun.

Ander frowned at her. The hammer has never been used before and she didn't know how sturdy it was. In fact, she didn't even remember what it looked like. It could have been an incredibly small hammer for all she knew. ''I...it's in the closet over there.'' she said, pointing to the door on the other side of the room.

Serah went over to it and opened the door. There were a few boxes on the floor and a light hanging overhead. She pulled the light's string and the room was lit up instantly. She crouched down and went through the boxes. There was one that had a medieval mace in it, a shot gun and even a cross bow. ''Is it the one that doesn't have any labels on it?'' she asked. The box was really long and there was nothing indicating what lurked inside.

''I think so.''

The pinkette took one of her long nails and slid it against the pieces of tape that held the box together. When all of them were cut, she put the box on the ground and opened it. ''Oh, wow!'' Serah said and picked up the mallet. It was dark red and a little bit shorter than her height. She got up off the ground and got a feel for the weight. ''It's perfect!'' she said and swung it around a little, being careful not to hit anything.**(Okay, for this hammer, it's sort of like Meru's from Legend of Dragoon cept it's longer and wider.)**

''Is that the one you want?'' Ander asked, looking over the mallet. It wasn't anything like she thought it would be.

''Uh huh.'' Serah said, smiling at her. ''It's long so I don't have to worry about getting too close.'' She trailed her fingers over the leaf pattern on the hilt of the hammer and grinned.

Ander nodded and left the room. She wasn't surprised when she heart peppy footsteps follow her. She wondered for a moment what it would be like traveling with and protecting Serah. She knew that it would most likely be her that did most of the fighting and tracking. It would be hard, but she also knew that it was necessary. She could get a lot of experience for doing this and it wouldn't be that bad. At least she wasn't alone.

'_Just keep your eyes on the prize._' she thought to herself and jumped over Skyler, who was resting on the floor, to get to the phone again. She needed to give Rachel a call so she could take care of Sky while she was gone.

''Do you need any help getting everything ready to go?'' Serah asked when she came downstairs. She was fiddling with her mallet, trying to figure out how she hook a piece of leather strapping to her skirt. She found it in the box and realized that the hammer could bend and then attach to the strap so she wouldn't have to carry it. ''And is um...'' she suddenly realized that she didn't know his name. ''he coming with us?'' she asked, nodding her head to the dog.

''His name is Skyler and I don't think that's a good idea. He hasn't worked in months.'' Ander said, trying to remember Rachel's number.

''Why not take him though? If you think about it, he could help us. Hasn't he been trained to track people?'' Serah asked, smiling at the dog when he looked up at her.

''Yea but... I never went out with him before.''

''Well what could be a better time to try than now?'' the pinkette asked, not seeing why Skyler couldn't come. He could track Lightning down probably a lot faster than they can.

''I don't know...'' Ander looked at Sky and frowned.

''What do we really have to lose?'' Serah said. ''And just look at him, he's practically begging you.''

Sky laid on his side and panted, giving his master a hopeful look. She stared into his eyes and the two of them faced off for a moment before she finally gave in. Serah was right. Sky could be of use and she would miss him if she was away for that long. ''Fine. But he better not get in our way.'' she said and called Rachel to tell her that she didn't need to take care of Skyler while she was gone.

* * *

><p>To Ander's surprise, Skyler didn't need any leash or reprimanding. He stayed right by the two of them as they made their way to the train station. She had put a collar and little vest on him that said '<em>GC dog at work. Do not pet.<em>' and he seemed really calm and perceptive. He didn't try to run around or anything rambuncious like he usually did when she took him out on walks. She guessed that her father must have trained him really hard for him to know to be calm when he had his vest on.

The girls had packed up a lot of food and water for their trip and they each had matching red packs on their left legs so they could carry the provisions easily. It took a while for Serah's to get strapped on but once it was, it stayed on just fine. They guessed that Lightning took off in the direction of the Hanging Edge because they assumed that she would want to go after Serah and that was where the Pulse Vestige was taken. The pinkette didn't tell Ander what the Pulse Vestige had to do with anything really, all she said was that she knew Lightning would be looking for it. The GC guessed that Lightning thought Serah might be purged or something and didn't push the matter any more than that. She wasn't here to befriend Serah, she was here to get experience.

''So then we ended up covered in whipped cream and soap suds. It was funny.'' Serah laughed as she told some story that Ander wasn't really interested about but found funny anyway. ''Snow couldn't stay upright and he kept falling down and knocking things over. When Lightning got home she sure wasn't too happy.'' she said, remembering the look of pure rage that came over his elder sister's face when she came home to find her house covered with white soap and cream. ''She made him wash everything by hand, even the carpets!'' she laughed again and then turned her attention to her quiet companion.

''So what about you?''

''What about me?'' Ander asked, keeping her eyes foreward as she walked.

''Do you have a sister?'' Serah asked, curious. Besides her name and her tendency to be quiet, she didn't know much about the other girl.

The brunette GC shook her head. ''No. I'm an only child.''

Serah frowned. ''Oh. That's gotta be tough, huh?'' she said, grabbing her hands behind her back and kicking a rock with her foot. ''I couldn't imagine not having my sister.''

Ander was silent, listening to the sounds of the trees swaying in the cool night breeze. She didn't really want to talk but she needed to ask Serah, this had been bugging her ever since she first met her, ''Why were you alone in the woods? Shouldn't you be with Lightning or...your boyfriend...'' his name escaped her.

''Snow.'' Serah corrected.

''Yes.''

''Well...'' the pinkette started. She didn't want to tell Ander the real reason she was there. She didn't know herself actually, she only had a vague idea of why she might have been there. ''We got seperated...when the purge started and I tried to make it to Treno to get away from everything. But I guess I got a little lost...'' she lied.

''That's the biggest understatement ever.'' Ander said, frowning but believing her anyway. She ended the conversation there and they soon made it to the station. The girls made their way to the platform that led to the Hanged Edge and Ander went up to the man that was on duty at the desk beside the train. He must have recognized her glowling arm guard for he didn't question why they were there.

''Good evening, ladies. I didn't expect to see anyone out here so late.'' he said, smiling. He looked really old and had a greying mustache.

''We need transportation to the Hanged Edge, if you would be so kind, sir.'' Ander said politely, patting Skyler's head when he nudged her hand with his nose.

The man nodded and turned to his computer. He punched a few keys and turned back to the girls. ''Alright there ladies. You should be all set to go. Might I ask, though, why you would want to go there? I would think people would want to stay away from the Pulse Vestige, not go to it.'' he asked, laughing a bit.

''We're looking for someone.'' Serah said politely.

''Well I wish to you the best of luck in finding them.'' he said and opened the doors to the train through his computer. The train wasn't that big, it only had two cars on it because the longer trains already made their way there.

''Thank you.'' Both Serah and Ander said together and boarded the train. It looked like they would be the only ones on it but Ander couldn't care less. She would rather have it that way then be jammed between lots of people. She helped Sky get aboard the train while Serah waved good bye to the old man through the window.

The doors shut once they were all in and they went on their way.

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><p><strong>Awesome! Now the action can really start! I can't wait. I will warn you guys, though. I stink at writing action scenes -.- but I'll try for you, promise. And btw, I hope you guys like Serah's weapon. I wanted to give her something fun and this just came to me. :]<strong>

**Please review peeps and I'll see you next time, silly gooses. Beh!**

**~Migoto Nami**


	5. Train Malfunctions and Lake Bresha

**Disclaimer: Ander is mine. Everyone else, not so much. FFXIII belongs to SE.**

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><p>Cocoon was truly magnificent at night. Eden's illuminous glow from above made it easier to see in the darkness and Serah could pinpoint a few different creatures roaming the wilds. She had discovered some time ago that the train didn't have a driver, which made things a little bit easier on the two traveling girls. Neither of them wanted to interact with any one else for the night, both being wrapped up in their own thoughts.<p>

Serah couldn't stop the thoughts that were invading her mind this time. Ander was asleep, well she at least looked that way to Serah, and there was nothing to dirstract her thoughts from wandering. She thought of Snow, Lightning, her friends, and how she had ruined all of their lives by being too curious for her own good. '_If I hadn't have been so careless, maybe all those people would still be on Cocoon._' she thought, grabbing onto her left arm and squeezing the spot where she knew her mark was.

She placed her arms on the window sill and sighed as she watched the scenery fly by her. If she wasn't so angry with herself, maybe she would have found this exciting, it _was_ her first time on a train after all. Serah nearly jumped ten feet when she suddenly felt something cold and wet brush up against her arm. She placed a hand over her racing heart and blinked when she saw that Skyler had gone and jumped up next to her on the car seat.

''Well hi there.'' Serah said and put her hand up to the dog's nose for him to sniff.

He licked her hand and she smiled at him. ''There's a good boy.'' she said and petted him. She laughed softly when he leaned into the touch.

On the opposite side of the train, Ander could hear Serah talking softly to Sky and his loud barks in response. ''Shh! You'll wake her up.'' she heard Serah whisper. The young GC bit the inside of her lip and got more comfortable on the cushioned seat. It was around two in the morning, she was guessing, but she she wasn't tired. That bad feeling from this morning was still there and she thought maybe it would go away after she and Serah headed off, but it didn't. '_Is it that there's something wrong at the Hanged Edge?_' she doubted it. There were a lot of soldiers that made their way over there to help destroy the Pulse Fal'Cie so the place had to be secure. '_Serah?_' she thought. '_Maybe... the feeling did get stronger when I first met her. Maybe she's hiding something from me..._' Ander had her slight suspicions about Serah when she told her that Lightning might be looking for the Fal'Cie and never explained why that is. '_Or maybe I'm just crazy..._'

* * *

><p>The morning sun came upon the world faster than the girls thought it would. Ander had managed to get a few hours of sleep in but Serah didn't sleep at all. She had been sleeping long enough while she was trapped in crystal, but of course she didn't tell the other girl that.<p>

''How much longer do you think it'll take to get there?'' Serah asked as she stroked Sky's fur softly and looked out the window.

''I don't know. Could take a few hours. Or a few days.'' Ander shrugged. She didn't know much about the Hanged Edge. In fact, she didn't know much about the world in general. She never left Bohdum except for family gatherings.

''Hm...'' was all that the elder girl said in reply and the car got quiet again. Serah was finding that Ander was a lot harder to talk to than Lightning. She didn't say anything more than necessary and didn't take lightly to conversations. Lightning, on the other hand, didn't like conversations either but she at least made an effort.

The pinkette thought for a moment about what to talk about. She could have looked out the window but even she had her limits on how much pretty scenery she could take before getting bored. ''So...'' she started, not knowing what to really talk about. ''what's your favorite color?'' she blurted out, not coming up with anything better to ask.

Serah shrugged at the younger girl when she raised an eyebrow at being asked such a random question. ''Orange...why?''

''Oh. I was just curious.'' Serah said and kicked her feet back and forth. ''Um...how old are you by the way?''

''Are you trying to interrogate me?'' Ander asked, blinking.

''No. I just thought we should get to know about each other, that's all.'' Serah said and smiled. ''Since we're going on a journey together, you know.''

The brunette locked her eyes with Serah's and she relaxed some when she saw genuine curiousity shining in the pinkette's eyes. Something deep within Ander's gutt knew that something was going on with Serah and she would find out eventually, but for now, what harm could their be in getting to know one another? She did have a point that they would be together for Etro know's how long, and it's not like Serah was going to ask her about her secrets or something like that.

A few hours filled with chatting later, Ander learned that Serah's favorite color is blue, her favorite things to do are explore and read, she doesn't like frogs, her favorite food is pasta and she's engaged to Snow. Likewise, Serah learned that Ander loves to paint and draw, she doesn't like snakes or thunderstorms, and that her favorite food is cantalope.

Ander felt a smile tug on her lips as she talked with Serah. She found that the older girl was really easy to talk to and she enjoyed doing so. ''So what happened next?'' Serah asked her, trying to contain her laughter. Ander was telling her about one time when her team went on a training exercise for a few days up in the mountains. They had to scout a few markers and clear the area of fiends so people who were climbing there coud be safe.

''So then we settled down for the night. Lightning and I slept in one tent and Greg and Farix slept in the other.'' The young GC could barely contain the laughter that was threatening to escape her. ''And the next morning I woke up to Lightning screaming. I thought that it was some beast or something that caught her by surprise but when I finally saw what it was, it wasn't anything like that.''

''What did you see?'' Serah asked, throroughly interested. It wasn't common for her sister to randomly scream about something.

''I saw a _HUGE_ spider stuck in her hair. It was wiggling around and she was messing up her hair really bad to try and get it out.''

Serah could help herself, she burst out laughing. That scene was just too funny when she envisioned it in her head. Her sister messing up her hair and running around screaming because of an itsy bitsy spider. She knew that Claire never liked spiders so she found that the story wasn't that hard to believe. When she calmed down some, she put a hand over her mouth to stop her giggles. ''What did you do?''

''I didn't do anything. I was too busy laughing.'' Ander said, chuckling. ''But Farix and Greg ran in right away and got it out for her. Greg started swinging it around in her face and mocking her and you could probably guess what she did.''

''Did she punch him?'' Serah asked, knowing that would be an appropriate response for Lightning.

''Oh yea.'' Ander said, nodding and resting her head back against the seat, her eyes filled with amusement when she thought of how hard Lightning had punched him.

''It seems like you guys have a lot of fun together.'' Serah said, happy to see the girl relax in her prescence when just a few hours ago she was so tense.

''Sometimes.'' the younger girl responded.

''Well I'm glad that Lightning has a good team that can watch out for her.''

Ander was silent for a short while and then asked, ''Do you worry about her?''

''Yea actually.'' Serah said, lacing her fingers together in her lap and looking down at them. ''A lot more then I let on.'' she paused for a minute and then looked up at the brunette. ''But if she has someone like you with her, I know I don't have to worry so much.'' the pinkette said and smiled at the younger girl. ''Thank you for sticking with her.''

Ander was really taken aback by this. ''Sure...No problem.'' she said, not knowing how to really respond. The two of them settled back into a comfortable conversation again soon afterwords as the train continued it's journey to their destination.

* * *

><p>It was around noon when the automated voice from the train's autopilot informed them that they would be arriving in about 15 minutes. Serah herself couldn't wait to get out of the cramped car and stretch her legs. She knew that Sky must have felt that way too because he was becoming rather restless. He would pace in circles and then sit down and then start again.<p>

The pinkette sighed to herself as she finished washing her hands in the bathroom that was located up in the cockpit of the train. She was making real progress with Ander and she felt that the two of them would be friends in no time. That thought made her smile. At least there was one person that didn't hate her other than her family. Serah fixed her ponytail and earrings before heading out the door . She stopped to admire the view from the cockpit and walked over to the window to see better. It was a lot different than looking out of one of the side windows of the cars. The land moved by much faster and you could see a lot more. Instead of the wide plains that were outside a few hours ago, the land was now rocky and vast. It was nice, but she would have prefered the plains instead.

Serah waited there for a little while to see if she could spot their stop. They passed through a gate and then a tunnel and the pinkette smiled when she saw their stop coming up. Finally they could get off! ''Wait a minute.'' Serah said to herself and put her hands on the glass. There was blue ice everywhere. Wasn't this supposed to be Lake Bresha? Serah moved her eyes from down below and looked up at the track. She gasped at what she saw. ''Ander!'' she screamed. The track in front of them was burning and there was a hole in the track. They were going to through the hole and down to the ice below if they didn't do something fast!

''What?'' Ander asked as she practically flew into the cockpit.

Serah couldn't find her voice and just pointed frantically to the track.

Ander followed the path Serah pointed with her eyes and bit her lip hard when she saw what had the pinkette so upset. She looked behind her and around for something, anything that could help them. She

found a lever that was probably the break and pulled it. ''Serah! Help me with this!'' she said and when the girl didn't respond she said it louder.

Serah shook her head, clearing her mind from the funk it was in and put her hands on the lever. She pulled as hard as she could and together they pulled it back. Both of them were silent as they heard screeching noises from the breaks. ''We won't have enough time.'' Serah said, frantic when she saw the hole coming up faster than the train could stop.

Ander kept her head cool like she was taught in her training and frantically thought. The train finally noticed that there was a problem with the track and started beeping loudly and flashing red within the cockpit. Serah covered her ears and shut her eyes to block out the noise.

The brunette GC was growing worried when she couldn't find anything that could help. She looked down at Sky when he started tugging on her cape. She knew enough to know that Skyler wouldn't bother her for something stupid when they were in this kind of situation. ''What is it boy?'' she yelled over the siren and she saw more than heard Skyler bark up at the ceiling.

Ander looked up at the ceiling and gasped. She turned to Serah and grabbed her arm to get her attention. When terrified blue eyes looked at her the GC looked up at the ceiling. Serah seemed to get the idea and reached up towards the escape hatch. She couldn't quite reach and she frowned. Without thinking really, Serah grabbed a hold of Ander and picked her up. The smaller girl grabbed onto the red handle and pushed the door upwards with some effort. She quickly climbed out and reached down to pull Serah out. She was surprised when she saw Serah lift Skyler up so he could get out first but she didn't complain because they had no time. She grabbed a hold of her dog's vest and hoisted him up and put him down on the roof of the train. She didn't even waste time to look at how close they were to the hole as she reached down again to get Serah.

Ander could hear Skyler's frantic barking and she knew that they were very close to the edge. She frowned and tried to reach Serah. She could see the fear all over the pinkette's face and she knew that her own face probably looked the same way. The two of them locked hands and the younger girl tried with all her might to pull Serah up but she just wasn't strong enough.

The brunette drew blood as she bit her lip in frustration. They weren't going to be able to make it! She looked again at the broken track that was way too close for comfort and felt tears come on. What kind of GC was she? She felt so useless!

Skyler saw the incoming danger and remembered what his former master told him when he first met Ander, when he was brought home from an animal shelter.

_''Now listen, Sky.'' His owner said, getting his attention. ''This here is my daughter. I want you to protect her with your life. You got that, pup?'' _

Those last words rang in Skyler's ears and the husky quickly bit onto the young girl's GC jacket and yanked harshly, pulling both Ander and Serah back in the process. He kept pulling and pulling until both girls were on the top of the train. He didn't wait for them to get their barings and sprinted behind them. He barked at them and pushed them with his head in the other direction of the gap.

Serah and Ander didn't register what just happened nor did they care as they ran along the top of the train. Both of them jumped off just in time as the train was swallowed up by the gap and fell to crash down below.

Ander raised a hand to her chest and breathed in and out heavily. Her pupils were enlarged from the shock and she was sweating really badly. It took her a moment to realize that Skyler's quick thinking had saved them. She owed that dog a big thank you. ''Skyler?'' she called, not seeing him for a moment. She started to panic that he might have fallen off with the train but she calmed when she saw him a little ways away on the track, panting.

''Oh, Sky.'' she said and ran to him. She got down on her knees and hugged him as hard as she could. ''Thanks, boy.'' She pet his fur and kissed his head. He licked her face and for once she found that she didn't mind.

Serah smiled at the two of them from her spot not too far away. She had her hands on her knees as she panted. She looked around and then stepped over to the side of the track and looked down. That would have been a long way to fall if they were on that train any longer. She looked back at the two GC members and patiently waited until they were done having their moment. ''So..what now?'' she asked when Ander pulled away from Sky.

''I don't know.'' Ander said and looked around. There was no where to go. There were no tracks except for the broken one in front of them, but that gap was too wide for them to even think of crossing it. ''I think...our best bet would be to climb down.''

''Climb down?'' Serah asked, peeking over the side of the track again. ''But there's no way from here.''

''Then we'd better find one somewhere else.'' Ander said and took off walking back down the track from whence they came, Serah and Sky in tow.

* * *

><p>It turns out that there was a way down along the wall where they first entered the Hanged Edge. It involved a lot of sliding, some ledges and a short jump but they made it down without too much difficulty.<p>

They quickly found the Pulse Vestige in all the ice since it was too big for them to miss and started making their way there.

Ander ran a hand through Sky's hair and looked at Serah, who seemed lost in her own thoughts as they walked. ''Hey Serah.'' she called.

''Hm?'' the pinkette asked.

''I'm...I'm sorry that I messed up back there.''

Serah stopped and looked at her compaion. She was about to say that it was okay but the other girl interrupted her.

''I wasn't strong enough to pull you up on my own and I almost got us killed. I'm sorry.'' It was her first mission being in charge and already she almost blew it. Ander felt really ashamed of herself.

''It's okay.'' Serah said and walked up to the other girl and put her hands on her shoulders. She smiled and laughed some. ''It was your quick thinking that got us out of there. If you hadn't found that lever to pull, we wouldn't have had as much time to escape.''

''But-'' Ander protested.

''Now, now.'' Serah said, shaking her head. ''It's alright. You can't expect yourself to be able to do all the things your team can. You're only fourteen, silly.''

''I know, but..''

''Don't worry about it. Think of this as a learning oppurtunity. Now you know that both me and Sky are here to help you.''

Ander was silent for a moment. That was true. If Serah hadn't been there to lift her and Skyler up, they would be stuck. And likewise, if Sky hadn't been there to pull them, they wouldn't have made it in time. She looked down at her dog and gave him a small smile.

''We're a team now. And I'll help anyway I can.'' Serah said and smiled at Skyler when he barked in agreement.

''Okay.'' Ander said, knowing now that she shouldn't think of this mission as being a solo one. She had a team right there. She watched as Serah turned around and headed off again. ''Serah.'' she called, taking a step towards her. ''Thank you.''

The Farron girl smiled back and nodded. ''No problem. It's what I'm here for.''

The two of them made their way further and further towards the icy pulse vestige, crossing more pipes and almost slipping a few times on the ice.

''Do you think she'll be there?'' Serah asked Ander randomly, fiddling around with the arm band that was identical to her sister's. It was way too quiet down here, more so than in the forest was. She didn't like it.

Ander jumped slightly when she heard the other girl speak after so long of silence. She shrugged and pet her dog's head as she walked. ''Could be. But knowing her, it probably wouldn't be that easy.''

''Hm...'' Serah agreed, casting her eyes downwards.

Some walking through tunnels later, they stopped for a while so they could eat something. Ander took a bite of her sandwich and kept her eyes moving. Something wasn't right here. They should have encountered something, a beast, human, something, but there was no sign of life anywhere. This whole place was deserted. '_Maybe Lightning __**did**__ come through here. Everything's been cleared out._'

After a while, the two of them made it to the Pulse Vestige. ''How do we get in?'' Serah asked, frowning and touching the side of it.

''Does this thing even have an inside?'' Ander asked, crossing her arms and looking up at the thing curiously. It looked like it was still in perfect condition, just covered in ice.

''Yea.''

''How do you know?'' Ander asked, raising an eyebrow.

''I um...well I'm just guessing.'' Serah said, shrugging.

Ander frowned at this response. She didn't believe it. ''Ser-'' she started but was interrupted by Skyler barking. The two girls walked over to a ledge and looked down to see Skyler pawing at what looked like a door. It was tall and narrow, but a door nonetheless.

''Good boy Sky!'' Serah cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted at him, smiling. She went to make her way down to him.

Ander went to follow but stopped and grabbed Serah's arm. The pinkette, startled, looked back at her companion and then down at Sky. She gasped in fear for the second time that day when she saw that the door was open and weird crystal beings were coming out of it. Skyler was barking at them and backing up when they got too close.

''Let's go!'' Ander shouted and ran down the side of the ledge to go help her dog.

''Wait! Ander!'' Serah shouted, hesitating a bit before running after her.

The brunette GC ran up next to Skyler and pulled out her father's gunblade. She smirked when she saw Serah run up to them and pull out her weapon. ''Hope you're ready for your first fight!'' Ander said and glared at the monster. She sure as hell was ready for her own first fight with her new team.

**[Insert here a battle theme of your choosing. Any will do but I would recommend the battle theme from FFXIII since that is what I was listening too when I wrote it.]**

There were three of the crystallized beings and they all stood well over her head but Ander didn't care. She was too excited. She ran towards one the beasts and sidestepped when he tried to swipe at her with his arm. She slashed at him once, twice, three times before sidestepping to the right and jumping away from it.

Her sword didn't look like it was doing much damage so she tried the gun. She pressed the button and it automatically shifted to her will. The beast howled and threw some weird thing at her. She backflipped to avoid it and shot the thing's red eye in midair. She was always better with a gun than a sword and it brought great satisfaction to her when it wailed in pain.

Across the way, Serah cold only watch while Ander fought one and Skyler kept the other ones attention by barking and sometimes lunging and biting. The pinkette gasped when the last one sought it's attention onto her. She rolled out of the way but didn't see the attack it made with it's foot towards her. It struck her right arm and she gasped in pain and jumped back.

She touched her arm and frowned. It didn't draw blood but it sure as hell hurt.

''You alright Serah?'' Ander asked as she blocked an attack from her own beast with her weapon.

''Yea. I got it.'' The pinkette said, not wanting to be a bother. She knew that she wasn't the best of fighters, but both Ander and Skyler were busy right now. She figured she could at least fend this thing off for a little while until they could get to her. ''Right.'' she said and eyed up the ugly beast.

Serah grabbed her hammer firmly in her hand and dodged another attack for him, waiting for a clear shot at the thing. When she saw the first oppurtunity when it missed her completely and stumbled a bit, she swung and nailed the jerk right in the face. She apparently didn't know her own strength as her attack really must have hurt it because it jerked away from her and brought it's massive forelimb up to it's face. She took her mallet and hit it again in it's big red eye for good messure.

Ander avoided another blow from the Cie'th and shot it a couple times in it's face when it brought it's arm up again to hit her. While it was momentarily distracted by trying to stop the pain in it's face, she switched her gun into a sword and moved in for the kill. As quick as she could, she got in close and stabbed it right in the red part of it's chest. The creature wailed in pain as she twisted her sword around in it's chest before painfully yanking it out. It screeched loudly at her before falling down to the ground. She quickly checked to see if it was dead, which it was, before moving on to help Skyler, seeing as Serah was doing more than a good enough job, hitting it over and over again and dodging perfectly when it tried to swipe at her.

When she reached Sky, he had his jaws clamped over the things face as it flailed about to try and get it off. When it turned to her, she stabbed it quickly, like she did with the first one and it went down easily. Once it hit the floor, Sky let it go and ran to Serah with Ander not too far behind.

''Come on, big guy. You're not gonna lose to a little girl are you?'' Serah taunted and hit the thing in the face when it made to hit her. ''Uh ah.'' she scolded and wagged her finger at it.

''You sure seem to be having fun.'' Ander commented when she and Sky reached her side.

''Of course!'' Serah said and laughed at the thing's sluggish attempt to attack him after he had been hit so many times it was likely to be blind. ''I thought monster fighting was supposed to be scary.'' she said and whammed her hammer right at the thing's chest while Ander shot it when she pulled her weapon away.

**{End battle theme}**

It crumpled to the ground and twitched a little before falling still. Ander took a calming breath and released it. She looked around and felt very proud of her new team that they didn't have any problems with this bunch. She turned to Serah. ''Monster fighting can be a lot more dangerous than this. There are bigger and stronger things out there than these guys.''

When the smile on Serah's face faded, Ander felt a little guilty but she also knew that it was the truth. This was only the beginning of what was to come...

* * *

><p><strong>Oopah! Guess what! I just had a final exam today and guess what number test I got! 13! :OOOOO it must be a sign! Either that or its just a number and i'm a total nerd XD It's probably the latter but who cares, I got another chap done! That fight scene was really fun to write. I enjoyed writing the bit with Serah XD She's a hoot. I love her :D<strong>

**And yea, that story with the spider, it actually happened to my mom while we went camping. I laughed so hard when she ran all around the camp site screeching like a banshee XD Ah...memories.**

**Anyways, please review guys. I really would like to hear your thoughts about this one. I don't have a lot of experiene with writing fight scenes so I would really appreciate the feedback. I'll see ya later! :D**

**~Migoto Nami**

**(P.S. I know I've been updating daily but I can't for a little while so I hope this chap, that is longer than the rest, helps to make up for it. I'll try and post some time this weekend. Later Gators!)  
><strong>


	6. Dajh

**Disclaimer: Ander is mine. Everyone else, not so much. FFXIII belongs to SE.**

**Music: Shadow Temple Theme from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time**

* * *

><p>It turns out that the Pulse Vestige was actually pretty beaten up on the inside even though it was basically perfect on the outside. There was tons of debris all over the floor and broken bridges and walkways hanging overhead.<p>

Serah stepped over a few pieces of metal and kept her eyes peeled for anything worth something to them. Ander said it would be a good idea to search for any clues about Lightning or other objects they could use: weapons, medical equipment, etc. ''Hey Serah..''

''Yea?'' she asked, not turning around. She was too mesmerized by the destruction of this place. It looked nothing like she remembered it to be. There were broken pillars that had crashed through walls as they broke apart, rubble all around the now cracked marble floor and pieces of debris falling from the ceiling occasionally. Dust flew everywhere with every step the girls took.

''Why did Lightning join the Guardian Corps?'' Ander asked, keeping her back turned towards the pinkette as she picked up a piece of floorboard and looked underneath. She let it drop and moved to the next piece.

Serah blinked. She hadn't been expecting that question. ''...Why do you want to know?''

''Just curious.'' Was all the response she got.

''Well.'' Serah said, turning back around and searching as she talked. ''When we were little, our parents passed away and Cl-...Lightning wanted to take care of me instead of having us go to an orphanage, so she had to work to provide for us because I was too small back then.'' She picked up a piece of broken stone and let it drop when she found nothing under it. The pinkette fanned the air around her face and coughed slightly as some dust floated up around her. ''So she joined the GC.''

''Were either of you happy about that?''

Serah looked back at Ander to see that the girl was still not looking at her. She smiled sadly at the younger girl and looked down. ''I wasn't. I thought that she would get hurt and I used to stay up late at night worrying. I still do sometimes...'' She said, kicking a small stone and watching it fly off amongst the wreckage. ''But as for her, I don't really know. She...never said. She never really showed any signs of hating her job.''

''I see.'' Ander said, jumping over some rubble. '_So I guess she doesn't need to be in this field anymore. She can easily find another job, with her skills. But still...I..._' she thought, looking down sadly.

''So what about you?'' Ander looked back at Serah for the first time in a while to see she had a soft look on her face.

''What about me?'' The brunette asked, swatting a cobweb away from her face so fast that Serah almost believed it didn't happen.

''Why did you join GC?'' Serah asked, walking over a broken beam with her arms held out like she was on a balance beam. ''I mean, you've been a GC for a while, right? Why would you want to join so young?''

''I...'' Ander started, hugging herself and looking off to the side.

Serah frowned at seeing this and jumped off the beam, walking over to the GC. ''It's okay.'' she said, smiling at her. ''You don't have to force yourself. Sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me.''

''It's just...'' The younger girl said, not really wanting to talk about the subject. She was saved though, by Skyler's barking just up ahead. The two girls looked briefly at each other before running to catch up to the husky.

''What is it?'' Serah asked as she watched the dog walk around in a circle, sniffing.

''He found something.'' Ander walked over to him and picked up the piece of wood that he was walking around. There were three vials of potion hidden under the board as well as some blankets. Ander's brow furrowed in confusion. It seemed like an odd place to find such a thing. But yet again they might have been left there by some refugees. Besides, they could use these supplies, so she wasn't really complaining.

''I bet those will come in handy.'' Serah encouraged, looking down at the findings over her companion's shoulder.

''Yea.'' Was all Ander said, admitting that their clothes weren't exactly suited for walking around an icy lake.

''Oh and look over here!'' The pinkette called, running off ahead. There was an air-bike that was turned on it's side resting against the ground. It looked a little shaken up but nothing too serious. ''I bet we can use this.'' Serah screamed bloody murder when she saw a huge spider on the steering wheel.

The brunette GC stored their goods in one of her bags and frowned at Serah for screaming when nothing was wrong. The pinkette blew on the spider and turned the steering wheel this way and that to try and make the creepy arachnid go away. ''That thing doesn't even look like it'll start, let alone fly.''

''No, trust me. It will.'' Serah said, finally just taking her boot and squishing the spider. She grimaced at the green mess that was left behind and hesitantly slid into the drivers seat. She held down two buttons while she put a finger up to her lip. ''How did Snow do this again?'' She thought out loud to herself. ''Oh yea.''

Ander's frown deepened as she went over to her companion's side, watching her put in a button combination while holding down certain buttons. ''Serah, I told you. I don't think that-''

The brunette was cut off as the air-bike revved up into life, nearly giving her a heart attack. Serah smiled at her and patted the side of the bike. ''You were saying?'' She grinned.

''How did you...?''

''Snow is really good with bikes. So he taught me a few pointers for when I get one of my own.'' Serah smiled, her eyes softening as she thought of her precious Snow. ''He said he was going to get me one..after I graduated. _But now that doesn't seem possible ..._'' The pinkette thought sadly, looking down at her forearm, where her mark was. '_Nothing does. I don't even know what my focus is...what am I going to do? Even if we find them, will I even have enough time left?_'

''...I bet Light would love to see you ride one of those.'' Ander said sarcastically, bringing Serah back from her thoughts. The pinkette blinked owlishly in confusion. ''I remember her almost biting my head off for even thinking about going near one of those things.''

Serah put a hand over her mouth and laughed. ''Yea.'' She nodded. ''That definitely sounds like sis. She did that to me too, when I was first learning to ride my bike without any training wheels.'' The pinkette leaned back in the drivers seat, a happy smile coming onto her face as she remember happier times. ''She'd probably have a heart attack if Snow bought me a real bike.''

''Well when he actually does, don't call me. I'm not carrying her butt all the way to the hospital.'' Ander said and walked away from the bike to look for more useful things.

''You...really think he'll get one for me?'' Serah asked, an underlying question hidden within the query. Does Ander really think that they'll even be able to find Snow and Lightning? The pinkette was having doubts. If they weren't here, then where else could they be? '_What if we never find them? What if...I...run out of time?_' She grasped her engagement necklace, scared of the possibility of what she might become. Scared that she wouldn't ever see their faces again.

''Yea. I do.'' Serah shot her head up to look at Ander, who had her back towards the pink-haired girl. The GC picked up a piece of floorboard and found a few more potions. ''From what you've told me about Snow, he sounds like the type of guy who wouldn't go back on his word. He'll definitely get you that bike if he said he was going to. And Lightning will definitely have a hissy fit when he does.''

Serah smiled when Ander laughed at the thought. ''Yea. I guess...you're right.''

* * *

><p>The three of them spent a little more time in the vestige and managed to scrounge up a few more potions, some preserved foods, more blankets, a switch blade, and a radio. They also searched the place from top to bottom, but could find no clues that Lightning or Snow had ever been there.<p>

Ander turned the radios nobs around, trying to get a signal as she and Serah ate some of the food they had already brought along for the trip. It wouldn't last as long as the persevered foods, so they figured they should eat it while they still could.

Skyler was curled up at the girl's feet as the two of them leaned back against a fallen pillar.

"_~If you want mah body! And you think I'm sexy!~''_

The radio came to life and the brunette GC frowned. She wanted to reach the soldier frequency that only GC members were allowed to operate on. She was hoping to connect to Lightning's radio, if she still had it with her and if she was within range. Ander had one of her own, but like an idiot, she left it at home by mistake.

_''~Come on sugar, let me know!~''_

Serah laughed as Ander angrily took out the thing's batteries. ''Here. Let me see.'' Serah offered and the brunette sighed and gave it to her. Serah'd probably have better luck than she would.

The pinkette put the batteries back in the radio and twisted the knobs this way and that before the fuzzy background silenced. ''Okay now what?'' Serah asked, giving the radio back to the other girl.

The brunette didn't answer and turned the knobs in a specific way. The radio made a small ticking noise in the background so Ander knew it was the channel she wanted. She pressed the speak button on the top of the device and spoke. ''Can anyone hear me? This is Ander Amodar of Unit 3 Guardian Core Squad. Come in anybody, over.''

Ander and Serah both watched the radio in silence, waiting for something, anything.

''_...Ander...this...is...Light...What's...on?_''

Serah's eyes lit up and she practically tore the radio out of Ander's hands. ''Light? Sis, this is Serah! Where are you?''

The radio went silent and then suddenly...

''_~I've gottah lovely bunch a coconuts! There they are a'standin in a row!~'_'

''Ahhhh, you useless thing!'' Serah yelled and threw the radio across the room in a fit of rage.

Ander's eyes widened at this. '_Well I guess they have more in common than I thought..._'

* * *

><p>''Alright then...'' Serah said as she got into the drivers seat of the airbike. ''Time to go.'' She pushed a few buttons and the vehicle purred into action. Ander got into the bike behind her, it already having been decided that Serah should drive, since the GC is too young and the pinkette knew how to drive anyway, courtesy of Snow. The brunette patted her lap and Skyler jumped onto her thighs, making the girl groan in pain.<p>

''Geez, Sky.'' Ander complained as the weight of her dog crushed her legs against the seat.

''Okay so... where exactly are we going?'' Serah asked, letting out a breath and looking over her shoulder at her companions.

''Let's just look around for now. Stay close to the ground so we can see better.'' The brunette replied, leaning forward in her seat when she felt something poking into her lower back.

''Gotcha.'' Serah said cheerfully and guided the air-bike out of the vestige and down towards the lake below.

The brunette frowned when she found what was poking her, a green beaded bracelet. There were small fang-like teeth laced throughout the bracelet and Ander raised an eyebrow before putting it in her bag that was around her leg. It might have been Serah's or something.

After a while of searching, they found a place that looked like it would be okay to land and look around. It would have been risky to land on the ice, it could cause the bike to slip.

Ander let Skyler get down first before she and Serah hopped off. There were orange colored rocks all around the area and little particles of white colored crystal floating through the air.

''Hmm...soo...'' Serah said, looking around.

''So?'' Ander asked, raising an eyebrow at Serah.

''I don't see anything.'' The pinkette frowned, leaning back against the bike.

''Serah, you haven't even moved.''

''Uuuuggghhh...'' The pinkette responded, too lazy to look around any more.

The GC girl rolled her eyes but didn't comment on her companion's sudden laziness. ''Come on Sky.'' She called and walked off, the canine following alongside her.

The pair didn't get too far before they heard the sound of running footsteps. Ander instinctively grabbed the handle of her gunblade as Skyler bared his teeth and growled, ready for a fight.

The footsteps came closer and closer, making Ander's hair stand on end. It sounded like a stampede and it frightened her. Suddenly, a whole team of Sanctum soldiers appeared from around a corner and Ander instantly sighed and let go of her weapon. Soldiers don't hurt one another unless ordered too, so she had nothing to fear.

''What's a GC doin here?'' The soldier in the middle asked, lowering his gun. '_They must have seen us land and came to investigate._' Ander thought, putting her hand on Skyler's head to calm him.

''Mission to retrieve a former GC that might have accidentally been purged.'' Was all Ander offered as a reply. It was sort of a lie, but then again it sort of wasn't. She took out a piece of paper from her bag, rolled it up and tossed it to them.

All five of the soldiers read over the parchment quickly, throwing it back to the GC when they were finished. ''This area is under Psicom lock down. No one has left the area except for one unidentified ship.''

''So if my target ever came here, they would still be here.'' Ander mused to herself in a mumble. ''Did you apprehend anyone with pink hair?''

''Negative.''

'_Then... that means that Lightning must have been on that unidentified ship..._' The brunette thought, bringing a finger to her lips in thought. This information could have also meant that Lightning never came this way at all, but it was the only lead Ander had, so what else could she do? ''Which way did the aircraft go?''

''West.''

''Right...okay. Might as well start looking there...'' The sound of screaming caused Skyler to bark and run back the way he and Ander once came.

''Serah!'' The brunette called out, taking off in a dash after Skyler.

* * *

><p>''I'm warning you, back off!''<p>

''Just come quietly girly.''

Serah frowned as a psicom officer tried to grab her. She scowled and whacked him in the face with her hammer. ''...I warned you.''

''Serah!'' The pinkette looked to her right, totally ignoring the soldiers surrounding her. The soldiers lowered their weapons when Serah called back to Ander, realizing that she's with the GC.

''Hey.'' The older girl said, smiling at her companion.

Ander walked over to Serah and gave the soldiers a nasty glare. She couldn't decipher the other soldiers expressions, but she was guessing that they were sending her angered looks as well. Skyler curled around Serah defensively as the Psicom soldiers that Ander was talking to earlier came over and talked amongst themselves.

''What happened?'' Ander whispered to Serah as the other soldiers conversed.

''Nothing really.'' Serah whispered back, petting Skyler's head to try and calm him. ''They said I should go with them to a secure area, but I kept telling them no. Then you showed up.''

''Okay...'' Ander said, biting her lip. ''Did they hurt you?''

''No.'' Serah shook her head. ''Did you find anything?''

''I may have a lead. Let's go while we can.'' Ander said and climbed into the back seat of the airbike while Serah got in front. Skyler jumped onto his master's lap and Ander called out to the soldiers. ''Thanks for the info. Bye.''

''Hey wait!'' One of the soldiers said as Serah revved up the engine. ''We're not finished with you.''

''What?'' Serah said, cupping her ear mockingly as she moved the bike up high, out of the soldier's reach. ''I can't hear you over the roar of the engine!''

''Get back here, god damn it! We haven't confirmed your identification yet!''

''Whaaaaattt? I can't hear you!'' Serah teased and drove off towards the west, leaving complaining soldiers behind.

* * *

><p>The air was cool and the wind unforgiving as the girls pushed onwards. The day's sun had fallen a few hours ago as the air-bike approached the Vile Peaks. Ander looked over the side of the air-bike down below to see the pulsian debris scattered along the rocky landscape. She remembered Lightning telling her about some of the missions she went on to this area. The landscape was supposed to be very treacherous and the paths had many ledges and jumps to pass in order to forge ahead.<p>

The silence dragged on between the two girls as they passed beyond the Vile Peaks towards a watery area with a river and a waterfall feeding into it. Ander leant back in her chair and closed her eyes, deciding to rest for only a moment or two.

Serah pulled her hair out of her eyes for the fifth time in two minutes. She sighed and decided to land down on the ground alongside a river. The river's flow was calm and there was waterfall a little ways north. Soft grass and moss covered the ground and was slightly wet being so close to the river, but Serah didn't care as she brought the bike to a stop and slowly lowered them to the ground.

Serah shut off the ignition and put the keys in her pocket. She got down out of the bike and sat down with her back against it, pulling a blanket out of Ander's pack carefully so that she wouldn't disturb the younger girl. The pinkette wrapped the blanket around herself and closed her eyes. Ander could stay where she was; Sky was keeping her warm and she looked comfortable enough. Serah normally wouldn't feel too comfortable with sleeping outside where there could be enemies lurking about, but she was just so tired and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>The harsh morning rays cast down upon Ander's poor, unsuspecting eyelids as the night faded away to day. She brought a hand up in front of her eyes to block out the sun. '<em>Why does this always happen to me?<em>' She thought, yawning as she gently pushed Skyler off her lap so that she could get up and stretch her legs. She heard about this area from Farix. It was called The Great Sulvia River and there were little to no monsters here. Nobody ever came here because it was close to the Vile Peaks and most people refused to go anywhere near anything that had Pulse attributes.

Ander stretched her hands above her head, cracking her sore joints. She looked around for Serah and found the pinkette curled up against the air-bike, Skyler's nose on top of her head from when he was pushed off of his master's lap.

Ander bit the inside of her lip and looked from side to side. The area seemed secure, but looks could be deceiving. She really should take a better look around but... The brunette couldn't stop herself as she pulled her sketchpad out of her bag as well as some charcoal pencils. Sitting down close to the pair, she began to draw. She couldn't help coloring such a tranquil scene.

For as long as she could remember, Ander always had a knack for drawing. It was a way for her to relax and get away from everything that went on. Now it was like a compulsion for her to draw something she found interesting, she couldn't help herself. She had been in the habit of it ever since she was little.

After a while, Serah opened her eyes and Ander quickly shut her drawing book and put away her pencils. She always felt embarrassed about showing people her drawings...

''Good morning.'' Serah said, yawning as Ander got up.

''Morning. This area is secure so we can relax.'' The brunette said, taking out a jar of the preservatives that they found yesterday from her bag. ''Is the bike out of gas?''

Serah stretched her arms and shook her head as Sky practically bowled her over when he got out of the bike's passenger seat and sniffed at the food Ander had. The brunette pushed him away and used a plastic spoon she brought with her to eat the preserved peaches.

Serah got her own jar from the bag and started eating as well. ''I'm sorry for stopping in the middle of the night. I just couldn't go on any more.''

''Well you made a good choice to stop here. It's a remote area that only few know about.'' Ander said as she finally cracked and gave Sky a bite of her food. The dog coughed and spit it out anyway, making Ander's eyebrow twitch in irritation.

Serah laughed at the two and smiled. ''Thanks.''

Breakfast was eaten with comfortable conversation passing between the two and they started to get back on the bike when Skyler's ear twitched.

''You got it?''

''Yea.'' Serah said, attaching their bag to the side of the air-bike so that Ander wouldn't have to hold it in her lap along the way.

Skyler barked and howled, pointing his nose in the direction of the waterfall. The two girls stopped and looked at him. The dog dashed towards the waterfall and jumped through it.

''What...?'' Serah asked, confused.

''I don't know.'' Ander answered quickly and followed Sky. If he was this worked up about something, then it usually was in your best interest to figure out what it was.

The GC grabbed the handle of her gunblade and walked along the wall that led to the back of the waterfall. She took out her gun and held it in front of her. Serah took out her mallet and prepared herself as she followed closely behind Ander. The brunette looked back at her and motioned for her to stay put.

Serah frowned and shook her head. What was she? Crazy? There was no way Serah would let Ander face something that could be dangerous alone. The GC sighed but didn't comment further. She stepped through the waterfall, not caring that she got wet. It was a hot day out so she would dry eventually anyway.

What Ander found was completely unexpected. She thought Sky had found some treasure or something, or maybe an enemy, but no. The husky was licking the face of a small boy with dark skin and black hair. He was wearing red overalls and a blue and green jacket. He looked soaked and was shivering even as a happy smile was on his face from the dog's affections.

Serah came through the waterfall after Ander and gasped at seeing that poor boy all alone of the floor of the small cave. The boy's eyes shot up when he finally noticed the two girls. He looked at Ander with a scared expression on his face and slightly cowered away as the brunette raised an eyebrow.

''Hey hey.'' Serah said, taking a step towards the small boy. ''There's no need to be afraid. We aren't going to hurt you.'' She said in a soft voice, putting her hands on her knees and giving him a kind smile.

''Who.. are you?'' The boy asked. His voice was raspy and it sounded like it was hard for him to talk.

''Im Serah.'' The pinkette said, pointing to herself. ''That's Ander, and our doggy friend by you is Skyler.''

The boy looked from Ander to Sky and relaxed somewhat. Something about Serah made him want to just stay calm for some reason.

''What's your name?'' Ander asked, trying to sound gentle as well but not really pulling it off as well as Serah.

''Dajh...''

* * *

><p><strong>OMG YOU GUYS! I FEEL SOOOO BAD! T.T This took absolutely FOREVER and I apologize. *grovels on the ground* First I got a new job, then college his me and DAMN! I didn't have time to breathe, let alone write. So yea, I'm sorry :[<strong>

**I hope someone's still interested in this story. If you are, please leave a review and let me know this story can still live on. It boosts my confidence and the more reviews, the faster this thing gets out. I'm on winter break right now so hopefully I'll find time to write some more.**

**So yea, please leave reviews if you're still interested and sorry about the delay! Ja~!**

**~Migoto Nami**


	7. Discovery

**Disclaimer: Ander is mine. Everyone else, not so much. FFXIII belongs to SE.**

**Music: Vile Peaks Theme from FFXIII, Moments Like This by Reamonn, and Magia by Kalafina. And btw, the music from Lightning's part is** **Hello, My Baby by Michigan J. Frog**

* * *

><p>The Gapra Whitewood was mildly distracting with it's beautiful blue leaves and electronic lights lighting Hope and Lightning's way. The soldier didn't lose focus by the pretty sites though, she kept her eyes behind her, watching for any threats while Hope took point ahead of her.<p>

The two were silent along their way, not really having anything to talk about at the moment, just listening to the sounds of the wildlife for any signs of danger. Lightning didn't like to stop very often so the two of them pressed onwards for a long ways before she finally allowed them to rest up.

Lightning went on ahead a little ways to check out the area as Hope sat down under a large tree branch, hiding himself from view as he caught his breath. The Farron soldier frowned as she finally stopped walking. She couldn't stop thinking about her sister, and what she had said to her. The survival knife that Hope kept toying with reminded her of Serah and Lightning was beginning to have second thoughts about whether giving it to him was really a good idea. It brought up painful memories that she didn't have time to think about.

Doing a quick scan of the area, she made a mental note of the spot where the two of them could climb down to the ground before turning to head back. Just as she was about to go back though, her radio fuzzed to life with static. She had kept it on so that she could hear if someone from her team or just the Corps in general needed to contact her. It didn't seem so useful now, seeing as the Corps would be out to get her because she was now a L'Cie, but she kept it on out of habit. Besides, no one would probably contact her anyway, her Corps unit was all the way back in Bohdum. Or so she thought...

"_Can anyone hear me? This is Ander Amodar of Unit 3 Guardian Core Squad. Come in anybody, over.~"_

_'_'Ander?'' Lightning questioned out loud and took out her radio, holding down a button and talking into the speaker section.

''Ander, this is Light. What's going on? Over.'' She asked. Why would Ander be anywhere remotely near the Gapra Whitewood? Shouldn't she be in Bohdum?

Nothing happened with the radio so Lightning decided to try again, desperate for some answers. ''Ander, come in, over.''

The static continued from the radio and then...

_''Hello, my baby. Hello, my honey. Hello, my ragtime gal!''_

Lightning's eyebrow twitched in irritation as she scoffed and took the useless radio away from her ear. She HATED when this thing had interference.

_''Send me a kiss by wire! Baby my hearts on fire! If you refuse me, honey you'll lose me! Then you'll be left alone oh baby telephone! And tell me I'm your own!''_

''Grrr, shut up.'' Lightning hissed and shut the thing off angrily, shoving it in her pocket and making her way back to Hope. She'd try to reach Ander again when there wasn't an interference in the area.

* * *

><p>The Vile Peaks was almost unbearably hot during the day time. The excess of Pulse machinery caught the rays of the sun with their reflective surfaces and heated up the rocky terrain. Serah and Ander had no problems with the heat, but Dajh was having a bit more trouble. His jacket and overalls were making it hard for him to stay cool under the sun's harsh rays and the trio had to occasionally stop and let him rest.<p>

The reason they came through here in the first place was because Skyler finally found Lightning's scent. As they had been leaving the cave after meeting Dajh, the husky had jumped onto the other side of the river through the waterfall and began howling and sniffing the air. Scents that traveled along the wind were not usually as reliable as scents along the earth, but it was the direction the scent came from that mattered. Specifics would come later, when they found a better source to track from, like a path Lightning took, or a discarded object left by her.

The airbike had stayed behind for this journey because it was only made for two people. It was really pushing the safety of the entire group if all four of them were crammed in there, so they decided to leave it where it was. ''Easy come, easy go.'' Serah had said, shrugging. It wasn't exactly like people could find the bike and then track them; no one went to that river anyways, so why worry?

''So then all the chocobos would run together and try and catch the crickets.'' Dajh exclaimed as he walked, making wild hand gestures and running a bit further, like the chocobos in his tale.

''Would they catch a lot of them?'' Serah asked, amused at seeing the care-free boy run ahead with Skyler tagging along behind.

''Yea!'' Dajh said, laughing and jumping up and down in place as Serah and Ander walked up to him. ''And then they'd eat em all up and 'Kweh!' really loud!''

''Oh really?'' Serah asked, trying to keep the conversation going. Ever since Dajh came along, Ander had gone awfully quiet, looking around frequently and keeping pace with Serah. The pinkette assumed that the GC was just being shy or didn't feel like talking. Lightning often didn't talk much because she just chose not to and Serah could understand if Ander wasn't up for conversing. So instead of trying to make the younger girl talk, Serah just decided to talk with Dajh instead. The little boy had a lot of stories to tell about chocobos he saw on the nature channel and his tales helped to pass the time.

From the back, Ander watched the two of them converse in silence. She was trying to figure out exactly why Dajh had been all alone in that waterfall in the first place. He might have been a run-away and was frightened when seeing her because he might have thought that she would turn him in and make him go home, but Dajh didn't seem like the type of kid to run away. His eyes shone with happiness and a love of life. He didn't seem like he would do something like that, not from what she could tell.

After a short while, the four of them made it to a wall in the road. There was a piece of pulse debris that appeared to have been pulled to the side by a machine. Since the scrap was pulled over, better access was given to overhanging pieces of debris so that someone could climb on and get over the wall.

The small group decided to stop here for a while, because Dajh complained about being too hot again. Ander didn't like the idea of stopping so frequently, but there was no monsters or people around to be a threat to them. The entire place had been cleared out of wildlife. Lunch, which consisted of a few slices of bread, dried meats and water, was passed around. Ander only brought food that would stay fresh for a long time. It didn't matter if the provisions tasted bad, it was something to eat. Every soldier went by this rule when packing food, knowing that it was better to eat something that ruined your taste buds and gave you energy than have food that tasted good but didn't last long or give any healthy benefits. If Serah and Dajh minded the choice in food, they didn't say so as everyone settled down.

Ander waited till conversation died down and until Skyler was relaxed with his own lunch of jerky to finally ask the question that had been on her mind for hours.

''Dajh. Why were you under that waterfall?''

The little boy nearly dropped his beef jerky in surprise when Ander talked to him. She hadn't said a word ever since he showed up and had been thinking that maybe she was mute all this time. He looked up from his food to find both Serah and Ander looking at him expectantly.

''Um...well..'' He swallowed in the back of his throat, suddenly becoming nervous. ''I was hiding.''

''From who?'' Serah asked curiously, wanting to know what made a sweet boy like him so afraid that he would hide in a hidden cave under a waterfall.

Dajh's eyes quickly looked to Ander before looking back to his food. ''Soldiers...''

Ander's eyebrows rose at this statement. ''What kind of soldiers?''

''Um...'' Dajh said, biting his lip while trying to remember what they looked like. ''They had on these funny black suits with orange lights.''

Ander and Serah passed a knowing glance to each other.

''Psicom.''

''But why?''

The two girls looked to Dajh for some help on the subject but he just sniffled and brought his hands up to cover his face. It was then that Ander immediately saw the strange tatoo on the child's hand. She grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his face gently. He looked up at her with watery brown eyes in confusion.

''What's this?'' The brunette asked, turning the child's hand to get a better view of the mark.

Serah got up and walked over to the two of them. She stood behind Ander to get a better look at the mark and her blue eyes widened, her hand immediately going up to rest on her forearm. ''That's a...L'Cie brand.'' She whispered, taking a step back from the pair of younger kids.

''A L'Cie brand?'' Ander looked back at Serah and then to Dajh, who had tears falling from his eyes. He sniffed quietly a couple of times but otherwise remained silent.

Serah kept her head down as Ander questioned the boy further about which type of L'Cie he was, Cocoon or Pulse. The pinkette gripped her arm so hard that half crescent moon marks from her nails would definitely be left on her skin.

''I'm uh...Cocoon L'Cie.'' Dajh finally said between sniffles and Serah felt tears come to her own eyes. She went back over to him and hugged him to her.

''You poor thing.'' She said, holding him as he cried. Serah let a few of her own tears fall as well. ''You're so young...''

Ander let go of Dajh's hand and raised an eyebrow as the two of them cried. The way Serah had spoken to Dajh, it was like she was showing sympathy towards the boy, like she knew how he felt at that exact moment. This really made the brunette's suspicions raise about the pink-haired girl even more. She'd have to keep an eye on Serah to figure out just what was going on.

* * *

><p>Dajh went on to explain that once he was turned into a Cocoon L'Cie, Psicom took him away from his father to try and figure out his focus. His father had spent every minute with him that he could and never left the building that his son was held in. One day though, his father left and Dajh wanted to find and see him ever so much.<p>

So the little boy decided to run away. Thankfully, the soldiers watching over him didn't take him seriously. Eventually, they took him to an airship to change his location from Bohdum to Palum Polum and when they had landed to restock for fuel, Dajh had used a code to open his door that he had seen the soldiers use carelessly in front of him. They must have thought, ''Oh, well he's just a kid. He's not smart enough to get away.''

Well they were wrong, Dajh used the code and ran away from them like a police officer to a donut shop. He went past tons of trees and hid whenever he heard the sound of airbikes. That was why he was hiding in that waterfall when he heard Serah and Ander land their air-bike close to the river. He thought maybe they were soldiers trying to get him.

''So now you're trying to find your dad?'' Ander asked, taking a sip of her own water. She didn't really like the idea of other soldiers coming after them. It would just be a pain to dodge their advances and look for Lightning at the same time.

''Yea. I miss him.'' Dajh said, wiping away his tears and sniffling. Skyler got up from his spot next to the boy and went to go explore near the wall.

''Well...'' Ander said, getting up. ''We can see about getting transportation for you in the next town we go to, but we have our own mission to accomplish. We can't delay any further.''

''But Ander.'' Serah said, finally speaking up after being quiet this whole time. ''He's just a kid, and people are after him. Shouldn't we help him out?'' She tried to be reasonable here. Dajh was only a little boy. He didn't know the world and he didn't know how to take care of himself on his own.

''But if we do that, Lightning's going to be long gone.''

''But we can't just leave him. He doesn't know how to take care of himself.''

''Well what do you want me to do?''

Dajh looked from Ander to Serah as they argued. He felt a wetness on the back of his head and shook, getting up and turning around quickly to see what it was. Skyler had rubbed his nose up against his head. He had something yellow in his mouth and Dajh reached out to grab it. The little boy examined the object and smiled.

''Hey look! Look!'' Dajh said, running in between the two arguing girls. ''It's a chocobo feather.''

''What?'' Serah asked, while Ander watched Skyler. The dog kept smelling the feather than pointing to Dajh with his snout.

''A chocobo feather. Like the ones on the chick my daddy got me.'' Dajh proclaimed proudly, stroking the soft feather happily.

''Can I see that?'' Ander asked and held her hand out for the feather. Dajh blinked but complied anyway. The brunette motioned for Skyler to follow her and walked a little ways away. She let him sniff the feather again and immediately, the husky went back over to Dajh and pointed at him again with his nose.

''You say your dad gave you a chocobo?'' Ander said, walking back over to Dajh and giving him back the feather.

''Yea..why?'' Dajh said as he and Serah felt very confused about what Skyler was doing.

''Is the chocobo with your dad right now?'' Dajh nodded. ''Skyler smells that this chocobo has your scent and someone elses scent on it, probably your dad. So your chocobo must have been here.''

''Really?'' Dajh's eyes lit up.

''But why would his father be out here?'' Serah asked, putting her food away. She didn't feel so hungry anymore. The GC just shrugged at her in response.

''Maybe he was looking for Dajh.'' The brunette put the feather in front of Skyler's nose again and let him get a taste for the smell before taking it back and pointing a finger at him. ''Skyler. Find.''

The husky took off up the wall that the group was sitting near and sniffed the air when he got to the top. ''Looks like your dad went that way.'' Serah said to Dajh as Ander put their food away.

''It's the same way Lightning went.''

''Do you think they're together?'' Dajh asked hopefully. If Dajh's dad was with Lightning then their little group didn't have to split up because they would be chasing after the same thing.

''Maybe.'' Ander said and scaled the wall after her dog. Serah frowned when she saw this, remembering how the brunette made her climb a large wall when they first met. She really didn't want to climb one again.

Dajh scrambled over to the wall and tried to jump onto a piece of wreckage to get up there. Serah sighed and went to go help him.

''Here we go again...''

* * *

><p>Eventually, they all made it to a gaping hole in the ground of a big clearing. The ground had collapsed downward and was hazardous to go near it. ''Something really heavy must have caused this to cave in like that.'' Ander said, walking over to the side of the hold and kicking a small rock. She watched it fall down to the earth underneath in curiosity. There was something that the rock collided against, some metal from the sound of it.<p>

''Well I hope we don't see whatever it is.'' Serah said, wiping a bit of sweat of her forehead. The sun had risen to it's zenith, making it hotter than it was before in the Vile Peaks. Dajh was really feeling the pressure and had since taken off his jacket so that he was only in his overalls. Serah had kindly put the article of clothing into her bag so that he wouldn't have to carry it around.

''It's probably down there.'' Ander said as Dajh came over to see down into the hole with her. It was dark in the hole because the sun was at a weird angle away from the entrance in the ground.

''We're not going down there are we? There's going to be spiders, I just know it.'' Serah asked, rubbing her forearms as she started to shake from fear. She had already had a run in with an eight legged terror while they were walking and didn't want a repeat. Dajh had laughed at her for jumping behind Ander to escape the itty bitty spider.

Skyler answered her by sniffing and barking in the direction of the hole. ''The majority vote says yes.'' Ander said and just jumped into the hole, Sky following in after her.

''You!'' Serah said, completely shocked that Ander would just do something like that. ''You crazy person! What's the matter with you?'' The pinkette quickly held Dajh back as the little boy made to jump in after the GC.

''Just come on down.'' Ander's voice drifted up from down the hole.

''Okay!'' Dajh said and jumped before Serah could stop him. The pinkette went silent and listened. She didn't hear a thud or a splat from Dajh's body hitting the ground. So what happened?

''Come on!'' Dajh yelled up to Serah, followed by a bark from Sky.

''No way!'' Serah said and crossed her arms.

''Serah. Just jump.'' Ander's said from below.

Serah sighed and grabbed hold of her skirt nervously. If all of them were fine from the jump then she supposed she would be too. Her sister always told her not to be afraid of new experiences when she was younger after all. And Serah wasn't a coward to new things. Besides, she trusted Ander.

''If you say so.'' Serah said, closing her eyes and jumping into the abyss.

* * *

><p>Serah kept her eyes shut tight as she descended, preparing herself for the painful collision with the ground. She soon felt her feet come in contact with the ground and flinched, waiting for the rest of her body to slam into the floor.<p>

That didn't happen though and instead, she was let down to the ground gently. The pinkette opened her eyes and gasped at seeing a blue light around her body. She heard a snap of fingers to her left and looked to see Ander standing there with Dajh and Sky. The blue mass disappeared from around Serah, kicking up a bit of dust as the device Ander was using shut off.

''What..was that?'' Serah asked, dusting off her shirt and skirt.

''A gravitational device. I took it with us from my dad's room before we left.'' Ander said simply and looked around to the middle of the hole. It was hard to see because it was so dark, but a giant metal object could be seen in the darkness. The brunette snapped her fingers again and the blue light surrounded her this time, acting as a sort of flash light as the GC went to examine the object in the middle of the room.

It was a giant Pulsian robot with stubby legs and clawed hands. It looked to be beaten up pretty badly. There were rusty spots all over the head of it and slash marks from a blade. Ander took out her own gunblade and switched it into a sword, slashing the robot and comparing the her slash to the ones that were already there. They were identical.

''Lightning must have did this.'' Ander said, putting away her weapon. ''There are bullet holes here too.''

''That must be from daddy.'' Dajh said, running up to the giant robot. ''He has some guns.''

''I see.'' Ander said in mild interest, trying to figure out exactly how the robot became rusted. There was no water around here. She also saw torched parts of metal from some type of fire and twisted segments of metal, probably from some form of electricity. Just what happened here?

Serah bit the inside of her lip, wondering the same thing. She heard growling behind her and turned to see Skyler looking behind them and growling. ''Hey, what's that?'' Serah asked, seeing a small outline move in the darkness. Ander snapped her fingers again, letting off a larger light from her gravitational device. What the four of them saw were orange robots about the size of an average man. They had little stubs for arms and were walking very slowly towards the giant robot in the middle of the hole.

''I don't know.'' Ander said.

''Robots!'' Dajh said, finding them funny to watch.

''Pulsian robots.'' Ander said, grabbing the handle of her blade. It was obvious they were puslian because for one, she didn't recognize their design, and all GC were familiar with Cocoon robots so that they could be used for useful things on the field, like analyzing evidence, and two, because Skyler was growling at them. And anything Skyler didn't like, usually meant bad news bears for them.

''What are they doing?'' Serah asked as the robots ignored the humans and stood next to the giant one in the middle, holding up their stubby arms, causing a light to emit from them that went from their arms into the body of the dead robot.

Ander watched them for a moment more before looking back at the dead robot in horror. ''They're reviving it.'' She said and whipped out her weapon. If they all managed to revive it, all of them would more than likely gang up on their little group. Sure, the robots were ignoring them now, but they would surely turn on them once their leader was awake. ''We have to stop them.''

''But..why?'' Dajh asked as Serah took out her mallet hesitantly. He didn't see why they had to, the robots weren't hurting anyone.

''They're from Pulse, they'll all turn on us once their leader is revived.'' Ander explained and tossed Dajh her red leg pouch, which was filled with potions. ''Dajh, you give those to us if we get hit okay?'' She asked and the small boy hesitantly nodded, knowing that he'd better listen to the soldier if he didn't want to get hurt.

''Serah, you, Sky and I will take them down.''

''O-okay.'' Serah said and brought her hammer up in an offensive way.

''Alright, everyone, let's go!''

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><p><strong>Heeeeyyy all you can eat buffet! I got another chapter up, and anyone who reads should be very grateful because my arm is KILLING me! I just had a booster shot yesterday and it hurts so bad! :[<strong>

**Welp, anyways, thanks for reading and please leave a review. Also, much loves and cookies to the people that already did review, it's thanks to you guys that I got my butt in gear and wrote this up so fast so thanks :D**

**Ja!~**

**~Migoto Nami**


	8. Resolution

**Disclaimer: Ander is mine. Everyone else, not so much. FFXIII belongs to SE.**

**Music: Be Like That by 3 Doors Down(which I think fits Dajh a lot in this chap)**

**P.S. You guys, sorry if this fight scene isn't very good. I don't have much experience which is why this took so long. I tried my best for you and kept at it til I was satisfied. So I hope you guys will be too.**

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><p><strong>~Insert here battle music of your own choosing.~(I chose "Run it Back Again" by Corbin Bleu...please don't judge.)<strong>

As soon as Ander issued the command, she took off to the first hoplite she saw, using her sword to slash into the head of the unsuspecting robot. Some wires frizzled around her blade as she pulled it out. The sparks almost caught the GC's skin, but her gloves protected the back of her hand from any damage.

The listless form of the robot fell to the ground as Ander moved onto her next target. Serah decided to follow Ander and fight off robots a little ways away from her. The only light in the hole was the GC's glowing gravitational device: it wouldn't be a very smart idea to fight in the dark. By being close to Ander, she could see what she was doing and stay close to her in case either one of them got hurt.

Serah focused her attention on ramming her hammer into the skulls of the offending robots, decapitating them with the amount of force she was using to fend them off. Ander seemed really worried about what might happen if the giant juggernaut woke up. Serah could sense Ander's distress, and she had enough experience to know that if a GC was worried, then you were in a very dangerous situation.

With the destruction of their brethren, the hoplites slowly began to realize what was going on. Some of them chose to fight off the two girls while the rest kept working on reviving the juggernaut. Ander quickly bent backwards and felt a metal arm swish past her nose. She brought her gunblade up and side-slashed the enemy in a horizontal motion as more robots came upon her. The momentum of her slash forced her to twist sideways to the left. Her foot collided with the slashed hoplite's body in front of her, kicking it at two robots that were on her side. The hoplites fell backwards onto the floor as their deceased brother hit them square in the chest.

The GC paid the clumsy, fallen robots no mind as she focused on defending herself from the other five robots that were attacking her. Across the way, Serah was feeling the strain as well. About seven hoplites were surrounding her, walking around her aimlessly as they took turns charging at her. Not one of them made it all the way to her though. Serah hit every single one of them that charged either in the chest or head with her hammer. The pinkette was sweating really badly and she had a large bruise on her arm from when she rammed herself backwards against the juggernaut to get away from an attack.

Dajh watched from off to the side with Skyler, who was standing guard over the small boy. He fingered the bag of potions in his hands, unsure what to do with it. Serah had a few bruises and maybe a couple cuts from what he could tell. Ander seemed pretty okay for now. He couldn't really see what was going on too clearly. There wasn't that much light down where they were and it was difficult to see anything other than Ander's glowing blue form. His dark eyes darted from one girl to the other in worry. He had never been in one of these situations before. It was severely frightening for the young boy, and he didn't know what to do.

Ander slammed her elbow into a hoplite's face and stabbed it in the chest, kicking it with her heel and back-flipping off of it. ''They just keep coming..'' She mumbled to herself as she landed back onto the ground. By now, every single one of the hoplites were attacking her and Serah. This could mean only one of two things: either they realized that the two girls are actually a really big threat and decided to get rid of them quickly, or they finished with their revival of their leader. The brunette sincerely hoped it wasn't the latter.

Her hopes were in vain however, because that was what exactly happened. Rumbling noises could be heard from the juggenaut as it started up, a bright light shooting from it's eyes as it started waking up. ''Damn it!'' Ander cursed, becoming distracted as she watched the giant robot rebooting. This momentary lapse in focus cost her and before she could stop it, a hoplite charged her, withdrew two long spikes from it's arms and stabbed her in the arm and side.

More startled than hurt, Ander dropped to her knees as the robot retracted it's claws, leaving two deep stab wounds in her flesh. The brunette's eyes widened as she watched the blood gush out from her side and turn her white GC vest a dark crimson. She put her hand over the wound in a vain attempt to stop the flow of blood, and only caused the dark red stain to spread faster.

''Ander!'' Serah yelled, shoving two hoplites our of her way with her hammer and running towards her friend. Skyler barked loudly and dashed to his master, biting viciously and barking at the hoplites that surrounded the girl. Dajh ran to her as well, but he was a lot slower than Skyler because the bag of potions he held were weighing him down.

''Ander are you okay?'' Serah asked, squatting down next to the GC and looking at her wound with a worried look. The pinkette felt extremely guilty for not being there when the other girl got hurt and her eyes were wide with fear for her friend's well being.

Ander didn't respond as she removed her hand from the wound, just staring at her red hand in disbelief. ''It doesn't...hurt.'' She said, knowing from all the wild GC stories that her father used to tell about near death situations and rewarding victories that her brain is deciding that now isn't the time for pain. This is a survival instinct that humans have; pain can be stopped by the brain if the person in question is in a life threatening situation, giving that person the chance to either run away or fight.

''I'm fine...'' Ander whispered, replacing her hand over her wound. Dajh ran up next to her and gave her a few potions. Skyler kept the hoplites at bay for the three of them as Serah took the potions from Dajh and poured their contents over Ander's wounds. The white dog snapped his fangs and let a ferocious growl escape his wrinkled maw, causing the robots to recede momentarily. The green liquid usually would have stung, but the brunette GC couldn't feel anything at the moment.

Ander surveyed the situation quickly as Serah and Dajh worked together to heal her. There were about seven more hoplites left, which was good considered there were about twenty five when the girls started fighting. The juggernaut was almost woken up and if they didn't do something fast...

''Serah.'' Ander stated with a tone of urgency, causing the pinkette to look up at her in question. ''Go up onto the juggernaut and slam him with your hammer. Look for a control panel or a weak spot, anything. Just don't stop hitting him until you find it.''

''But what about you?'' Serah got up and asked, feeling tears about to come on. She had never seen one of her friends injured before and she felt awfully scared that something else might happen to either one of them. She just couldn't take it if anyone else got hurt because Serah wasn't there to protect her. ''You just got stabbed in the-''

''I know!'' Ander said, trying to stay calm. ''I know...but you're the only chance we have Serah. You do the most damage and you're the only one who can do this.''

''But I don't want to leave you! What if you get hurt again?''

''Dajh is here and so is Sky. And also...'' Ander pushed a button on her blade and it instantly turned into a gun. ''I'm not out of this fight yet.'' To prove her point, the GC aimed and fired at a hoplite's head, the force of the bullet causing it to blow right through the robot's skull. It's inner wiring fried and it collapsed onto the ground, destroyed. ''Now go, Serah! You're our only hope!''

''O-okay. Stay safe, you guys.'' Serah said, not really knowing how she could argue with that. She ran off towards the juggernaut.

Skyler kept the robots at bay by snipping at them when they got too close to Ander and Dajh and tearing an arm or two off with his powerful jaws. Ander kept firing at the hoplites from her spot on the ground next to Dajh as the little boy held strong onto the potions, keeping a watchful eye on Ander to see if she needed more healing. He felt completely useless for now and didn't know how to help, but he desperately wanted to. Dajh felt tears come to his eyes as he watched Ander, hoping that she'd be okay. He didn't want her to die, and he didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

Serah jumped onto one of the juggernaut's limp arms and ran up to his back. She tightened her grip on her hammer and let the first blow fly onto the beast's back. Nothing happened. No sparks fried. The robot didn't twitch or anything, so she kept trying. She couldn't see all that well because Ander's glow didn't quite reach up so high, but that didn't stop her. They were all going to survive. Serah knew it for sure. And she would make it happen.

Serah kept ramming her hammer into the juggernaut over and over again, creating little craters in it's metal armor. She even took out the thing's eyes, breaking the glass so the robot wouldn't be able to see even if it did get up. She kept wacking and wacking, getting very desperate as it started to roar and move it's arms. Serah was sweating and panting harshly as she kept hitting, losing strength quickly. Eventually though the roaring stopped and the robot's arms fell to the ground with a huge thud. It's eyes stopped shining and a bunch of wiring fizzed from underneath her hammer. Serah sunk down onto her knees in exhaustion as the robot shut down. She didn't know what she had hit, but she did it. She destroyed it.

The whole cave was eerily quiet as Serah caught her breath, which the pinkette found to be extremely odd. Shouldn't Ander and Sklyer still be fighting? ''Oh no...'' Serah whispered in desperation, thinking the worst might have happened. Quiet was never a good thing in these kinds of situations. She pushed herself up on shaky knees and ran over to the side of the juggernaut, peering down to where Ander, Skyler and Dajh used to be.

The remains of all the dead hoplites reached her eyes as Serah peered over the side. She could see no moving robots. They were all destroyed. Both Ander and Dajh were sitting together on the ground and Skyler was lying down on his stomach panting, completely exhausted. Serah sighed in relief and hopped down from the juggernaut to go and join the rest of the group, extremely relieved. They had won.

**~You may stop rocking out to el battle music now...no seriously stop.~**

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><p>Sunset creeped upon the group faster than expected. Everyone was tired as they pushed their way onwards. Serah used more energy than she actually possessed in that last battle and she drug her feet against the dirt with every step she took. Ander had long since begun to feel the pain return to her body, now that everyone was out of danger's way. More potions were used on her til the hot raging pain was reduced to dull throbbing. Her wounds were dressed with gauze and she felt extremely stiff with every step she took. Dajh and Sky were not injured at all in the fight and they were the ones to help the two injured and weary warriors. Skyler let Ander lean her arm on his back to transfer some of her weight and make walking easier for her while Dajh helped Serah in basically the same way. She had her arm thrown over his shoulders and he helped her whenever she would accidentally trip from being so unfocused and exhausted.<p>

Eventually, when there was almost no light left to see, the small group came upon a fork in the road and Skyler stopped, unsure of which way his master wanted to go. He raised his nose to the air and sniffed decisively. Ander decided to use this time to rest and stopped everyone. They had all been walking for an extremely long time and they all needed to frequently stop to catch their breath, Ander in particular because of her injury. Serah gratefully plopped down on a flat rock alongside the road, relaxing her poor arms and legs as Dajh chose to just lie down in the middle of the path totally uncaring, like a dead fish.

''Sky. Find.'' The GC held out the chocobo feather. Skyler sniffed the feather again, left his master and walked over to the left path, pointing his nose down it, but he wouldn't walk any further from the fork in the road. Ander raised an eyebrow at this; Skyler was trained to follow a scent given to him until his master told him to return or stop, but Ander hadn't given him an order. So something must be wrong here.

The brunette brought a finger up to her lip in thought before coming up with an idea. She looked at Skyler, who looked back at her, tongue hanging out while he panted. Ander looked back at Dajh, who was waving his arms and making a dirt angel for no reason other than just because he could. She hesitated on giving this order, but she had to know. ''Sky...Find Lightning.'' She took out a piece of clothing with Light's scent on it that Serah had given her and Skyler went over to Ander and sniffed the scent.

Immediately the white husky trotted over to the other path and pointed his nose down it. Ander felt her hands begin to sweat as her fears became realized. Sazh and Lightning went their separate ways, which meant that Dajh had no reason to be with them anymore. Serah, who had been watching the whole thing, got up and went over to the other girl. ''Hey..what's goin on?'' the pinkette asked hesitantly as the other girl sighed and sat down in the middle of the road.

''It looks like... we're gonna have to split up.''

Serah's blue eyes widened. She walked around the GC to stand in front of her, having a disbelieving look upon her face. ''What do you mean?''

''I mean...'' Ander said, unhooking her gunblade holster from around her waist to let herself relax a little. ''Lightning and Dajh's father went separate ways. Light went to Gapra Whitewood and Dajh's dad went off towards Nautilus.''

''So what?'' Serah asked, putting her hands on her hips. ''We're just going to leave Dajh? Just like that?''

''No. Of course we'll help him get somewhere, but Serah...you know we can't afford any side trips. I've told you this before.''

''But Ander, we can't leave him. And besides, you're injured! We can't just-''

''Well I don't know what to tell you Serah!''

A sense of deja-vu came over Dajh as his innocent brown eyes stared up at the two bickering females from atop his little angel outline in the dirt. He looked from Serah to Ander and back again as each of them made their points, but no resolution was found. The little boy stared hard at the scene as the image of the two girls faded away to a memory that happened not too long ago...

_The white common room in the Psicom military base was so clean and bright from the sunlight reflecting off of it. It hurt his eyes. This place was so impersonal so...scary. He just wanted to be with his Dad. His dad was nice to him, loved him. But from what that Jihl Nabaat lady was saying, he might not be able to see him anymore._

"_What are you saying?" His father's voice said, slowly starting to escalate in anger. "You wanna do experiments on him like some kinda lab rat?" _

"_I understand your concern, ." Replied the silky, cold sound of Jihl's voice. "but this decision is not yours to make. Dahj is the property of the Psicom army now. What we're doing is very vital to our mission to eradicate all of the pulse L'cie from our planet. It is for the greater good of mankind."_

_But it was as if Sazh hadn't heard. "Don't you Psicom jar-heads see what you're doing here? He's just a kid! And what about human rights-?"_

"_It would seem, ," Dahj could feel the woman smiling in her words, ''that you are allowing your personal feelings to cloud your opinion of what is truly right. If Dajh was not your son, would you feel differently?"_

_''No. What kind of question is that?''_

_Dajh looked out the window as he heard the two of them fight some more, wondering what was going to happen to him. _

''If you leave him here, you'd be no better than those Psicom soldiers that disrespect human rights!'' Dajh was pulled out of his thoughts from Serah's accusation. The pinkette had her arms crossed and she was breathing heavily and slowly. Her eyes were hard as she stared down past her nose at Ander, who refused to meet her eyes. When the brunette didn't respond, Serah sighed and let her arms fall to her side, exasperated. ''Don't you even care what happens to him?''

Ander felt her cheeks sting as she got up from the ground. Her head was downcast and her fist clenched at her sides. ''We'll talk about this more in the morning. I'm tired.'' She said and turned around, trudging off to be alone and sort out her thoughts.

Serah sighed, irritated that their little argument had no resolution. The pinkette looked over to Dajh after she took a moment to calm down. The little boy was resting his chin against the ground and he had a melancholic look to his eyes. His mouth was turned down in a somber expression as he watched Ander stalk off into the night with Skyler not too far behind.

Serah smiled at him and crouched down next to the sad child. ''Don't worry, Dajh.'' She said softly, gaining his attention. ''She cares. She'll come around.'' The pinkette tried to cheer him up. She put a comforting hand on his hair and he looked up at her and grinned.

''Yea.'' His smile looked forced though and Serah felt bad that he had to listen to them fight. She didn't want to fight with Ander, but she didn't want to just leave Dajh either without sticking up for him in some way. It just wouldn't feel right to leave a kid all alone in this cruel world. Especially if he's a L'Cie. Serah herself knew what it was like to have people out to get her, which was why she wanted to stick together with Dajh so bad. Even if they were two different kinds of L'Cie, they were similar in the sense that they never asked for this. And they weren't bad people, just misunderstood.

Dajh got up from the ground and dusted himself off. The front of his clothes were covered in dirt and his face was all dirty. Serah giggled and took out a cloth from her backpack. She wiped his face clean and smiled at him when she was done. ''So it looks like we're staying here for the night.'' She mumbled to herself, looking in the direction that Ander had gone. ''So let's set up camp, okay?''

''..Okay.'' Dajh smiled back at her, trying to stay happy for her sake. He sincerely felt like he was just a burden here. Everyone keeps talking about him like he was some sort of object. He felt completely helpless, like he was just some thing for people to take advantage of. He wished he could defend himself, actually stand up for himself, but he didn't know how to do that. He couldn't fight and he got nervous when confronting people. In the back of his mind, he wished he could be like Ander and Serah. They were brave, they didn't let anyone boss them around, and they could fight. If he were even a little bit like them, maybe people wouldn't treat him like this.

''So let's find a good spot to set up the blankets.'' Serah said, taking her bag from her back and looking around for a suitable place.

''Okay...''

* * *

><p>Eden was beautiful that night. It's sustaining glow lit up the night sky, giving Ander some light so that she could draw the scene in front of her. She was sitting near the edge of a cliff, looking up at the sky. She decided to draw Eden in all it's splendor that night. As for why, she didn't know. But she felt she needed to draw something right now. This whole situation with Dajh was really bugging her. She wasn't angry at the boy, no, and she wasn't angry at Serah. She just...didn't know what to do. She wanted to help Dajh, she sincerely did. He helped her a lot by giving her potions when she desperately needed them, even when she didn't ask, and he stayed out of her way when she was fighting. He wasn't so bad, she did like him, but that wasn't enough to make her sway from her mission. She had to find Lightning, there was no time for side trips.<p>

Ander moved her pencil down on her drawing pad and drew some trees under the moon's glow, shading them so the picture looked more realistic. Skyler nuzzled his head against her thigh as she drew, having not wanted to leave his master when she was injured. He looked relaxed, but he was constantly listening for danger. The brunette drew the cliff that she was standing on in the foreground and made to draw herself sitting atop it, looking up at Eden with Skyler next to her.

She didn't get to draw herself though, because rustling could be heard from behind her. She grabbed a hold of her gunblade in reflex, wondering in the back of her mind for a second why Skyler wasn't reacting. Usually he would bark and be on alert when someone or something dangerous was coming after them.

''Ander?''

Oh...that's why. The brunette released her weapon when she heard the familiar voice of Dajh call out to her from the bushes. The brunette quickly closed her drawing book, not wanting anyone to see her drawings. She was extremely self conscience about her little doodles and was afraid what someone would think if they saw them.

''I'm over here Dajh...'' She called back to him, flipping the book over against her thighs so that he couldn't see that it was a drawing book.

The little boy made it over to the girl and sat down next to Skyler on her right side. ''Hey...''

''Hey.'' Ander said, confused. ''What are you doing up so late?''

''I had a nightmare.'' Dajh mumbled and Ander frowned in response.

''I'm sorry.'' She said, not really knowing what to say to make him feel better.

''Why are you still up?''

''Me?'' She questioned, surprised he would ask. He nodded and looked up at her, petting Skyler affectionately. ''My wound still hurts.'' Her injuries were throbbing painfully and she knew that she couldn't get to sleep even if she tried. So she didn't and decided to just stay up until she was too tired to keep her eyes open.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two of them, neither knowing what to talk about or how to really talk to each other. Ander assumed by now that Dajh thought she didn't care, which he kind of did. To him, she was a stoic soldier, who didn't care about anything other than her job. If he were being honest with himself, she kind of scared him. She was a sheltered, impenitrable force that was not to be reckoned with. He constantly felt that he didn't want to get on her bad side. She didn't talk very much so she never knew what she was thinking, if she hated him or not...and he would have woken up Serah after his bad dream, but he didn't want to disturb her. So he went to Ander instead, hoping that maybe they could talk to get his mind off of the dream. He also wanted to apologize...

''Ander.'' He said softly, taking her attention away from the moon to focus it on him instead. ''I'm sorry I'm just... getting in your way... I'm trying..I just...I know you don't want to get sidetracked. And..I want to not get in your way...but I don't know how. I just...really wish I could be brave like you and Serah. Maybe then I could stop people from bossing me around...'' Dajh confessed, closing his eyes and waiting for a response. He didn't know how she would react to his apology.

''It might seem like I'm strong and brave...'' Ander started out. ''But really, I was scared back there too.''

''You were?'' Dajh said, surprised.

Ander looked down and nodded her head. ''Yea. I'm not really used to fighting without my teammates in the Corps. This is all still new to me...'' She looked down at the drawing book in her lap. ''And I can see that you're trying, Dajh. You don't have to apologize.'' She looked up at the moon, ignoring his bewildered expression that he threw at her. He must have thought she would just brush off his apology and tell him to leave or something. ''You've actually been doing pretty well so far. We haven't caught the attention of the Sanctum.. and you really helped me with those potions.''

''But I...was only doing what you said.'' Dajh said, completely shocked that she wasn't mad at him or anything, after all, he was the reason that her mission was being delayed...wasn't he?

''Yea...but sometimes, following orders is the best way to help people.'' Ander said, returning her gave up to Eden. ''My father...always said that.''

''You're dad?'' Dajh asked, intrigued. He was amazed that the GC would just open up to him a little bit like this. Maybe she wasn't just a wall of stone after all.

''Yea. That's why he joined the Corps; to help people. He always... put others before himself.'' Ander said softly, her emerald eyes shining in sadness.

''You're dad sounds like a nice guy.'' Dajh said, grinning. Talking to her like this helped him to forget about his scary dream and also reminded him of his own father. During any other time, thinking about his dad would have saddened him, because he would be reminded that they were still apart, but for right now, he didn't really mind. Ander brought comfort to him in the way that she talked about her dad, like she knew what he was going through right now. ''My dad's a nice guy too. He drives planes.'' Dajh waved his arms around and made a 'vroooooomm' noise to resemble one of the planes his dad drives.

Ander chuckled and smiled down at Dajh for the first time since he entered their little group. ''What kind of planes?''

''Fast planes!'' Dajh then proceeded to tell Ander about all the planes his dad drove, and how he would sometimes sneak Dajh onto a plane when no one was looking to show him what he did for a job. Ander told some similar stories too, like how her dad used to bring her back all sorts of weird things from his missions when she was still little. He used to bring her fans and necklaces, and one time he even brought her back an entire bucket of salamanders because she had said she wanted a lizard for a pet. Lieutenant Amodar hadn't really wanted a lizard in his home at the time and got her the salamanders instead. They played together in the backyard for hours with the slimy critters and then let them go afterword.

The story telling went back and forth between the two, each becoming more and more comfortable with the other. Ander got to know Dajh a little better and came out of her shell a little bit whilst talking to him and likewise, Dajh didn't see Ander as a scary soldier anymore. They came to respect each other that night as they bonded over one another's stories and found that, over time, they could become close friends.

The fun had to stop sooner or later though, as Dajh started to become very tired. Ander sent Skyler to walk the little boy back to camp with Serah to get some more rest before the morn. Dajh smiled and had waved goodbye before leaving the GC and went off with Skyler to have happy dreams for the first time in days.

Ander shook her head with a small smile on his face as Skyler and Dajh left. She flipped over her drawing book and opened it, taking up her pencil and finishing her drawing. Her fingers just flowed and she wasn't really paying attention to what she was drawing. She had originally started to draw herself on the cliff, like she was going to before, but this time her fingers started drawing a different figure, one of a little boy staring up at Eden in wonder.

* * *

><p>Dawn arrived in due time and the air was refreshingly cool that morning as Serah woke up. She sighed to herself as she stretched her arms over her head, cracking her stiff joints. She felt surprisingly refreshed this morning considering that she had been sleeping on painful rocks all night. Serah got up and folded her blanket, putting it away in her bag to be used the next evening.<p>

She dug out a small wrist watch from her bag and looked at the time to see it was just a little after 8 o'clock in the morning. She looked around the small campsite that she and Dajh had set up last night to find Dajh still sleeping peacefully in a little cocoon of blankets with Skyler snoring next to him and Ander fully awake and attending to the fire.

The brunette didn't look up from what she was doing and mumbled a ''Hey...'' to her newly awoken friend.

Serah frowned slightly, wondering if the other girl was still miffed at her for what she had said last night. ''Hey.'' She said and walked over to the GC, plopping down next to her and watching her poke the fire with a stick. ''Look, about yesterday..''

''Forget it.'' Ander said. ''I've made my decision about where we're going.'' Her tone signaled the end of the conversation and also the finality about their argument. She had made her choice, not matter what Serah thought. The pinkette bit her lip and sighed, looking over at Dajh, knowing that they would have to leave him to his own devices. There was nothing she could do if Ander didn't want to have Dajh in their group anymore.

The two girls were silent and eventually, Dajh woke up. Breakfast was eaten in silence as Dajh sensed that doom was approaching for some reason. He had hoped that since now he and Ander were on better terms, but it didn't look like it now. Ander's decision was final as she led the group and decided where they went. He couldn't argue with her. He would feel even worse than did now about making them get sidetracked from finding Lightning.

Once everyone was done, Ander got up and everyone followed. The brunette stopped in the middle of the fork in the road and sighed. She turned around to look at the melancholic faces of Serah and Dajh and she frowned. She took a deep breathe and started, ''Okay, so Dajh's dad and Lightning went two different ways. I know we can't possibly go both ways, so splitting up should be the best option.''

''But Ander!-'' Serah made to protest.

''Let me finish, please.'' Ander said softly and Serah reluctantly went quiet, waiting to hear what the younger girl had to say. ''Splitting up _should_ be the best option, but that's not the one I want to take. After last night, Dajh made me realize that we can't just split up our group. It wouldn't be fair to any of us.'' Serah frowned in confusion at this, not having known that the two of them talked last night. She had been sleeping like a rock the whole night. Dajh watched Ander carefully, a spark of hope in his eyes as she continued. ''So I thought about it real hard last night and here's what I found:'' Ander paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. ''Dajh's dad and Lightning were traveling together at one point, that's a given. When groups split up, there is a chance they can come back together. Also, there is a chance that one group might know where the rest are. So here's what I propose, we _all_ go after Lightning and see if she knows where Dajh's dad is or if they are together as a group. Now... does that appease everyone.''

Everyone was silent as Ander finished her proposal for a moment before Dajh tackle-hugged the GC in thanks. ''Yea! Thank you! Thank you for not sending me away!'' He exclaimed, crushing the brunette to his small form in a hug. Serah wiped her brow in relief, a big smile on her face.

''That's perfect.'' The pinkette watched in amusement as Ander awkwardly returned the hug, happy that their little group wasn't going to split up afterword. Serah pet Skyler, who came to stand next to her and the two of them watched the scene for a little longer before Ander couldn't take any more.

''Alright then.'' Ander said, peeling Dajh off of her and turning in the direction that Lightning went. ''Of we go, to Gapra Whitewood.''

* * *

><p><strong>Omg sooorrry that it took so long you guys. Yea, fight scenes scare me so I put it off for a while to collect my muse as stated above. But I wanted to apologize again, so yea, sorry! Anywho, I don't know when I'll update next. My x-best friend is coming to live with me and my family tomorrow and I'm not happy about it. So yea, that might prevent me from writing from stress or the fact that she might bug me when I try to be alone to write, but I'll try. It was my original hope to get this story done before FFXIII-2 comes out but yea, I don't think that'll happen :[<strong>

**So yea, hope you liked and please review. Also, big thanks to Lescachan for your words of encouragement. It makes me soo happy that somebody else besides me really likes Ander :D Yay :D and also, thanks anonymous, whomever you may be. You always give me muse to write more with your short but sweet reviews so yea, thankies :D**

**Kkz, beh!**

**~ Migoto Nami**


	9. Captured

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except for Ander...and my kick butt car, Big Bertha. FFXIII belongs to Square Enix.**

**Music: Haunted by Taylor Swift and How We Roll by the Chipmunks...don't judge me.**

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><p>Serah shivered as she rung out her wet hair over the riverside. The small group had decided to stop by a river that cut through the land around the end of the Vile Peaks. There was just about twenty or so minutes of walking left before they would reach the Gapra Whitewood, a forest in the proto-ecology belt that had tons of feral beasts in barriers for the Sanctum plan to experiment on to turn into bio-weapons.<p>

The pinkette sighed as she pulled on her pink sleeveless jacket. Her clothes were slightly damp because she and Ander had been washing in the river while Skyler and Dajh respectfully kept their distance. Ander was already clothed and waiting for Serah on a rock nearby and her damp brunette bangs were falling in front of her eyes. The two had been conversing about random topics for conversation and eventually their chattering led them to the topic of Snow.

''So how did you two actually meet?'' Ander asked, rubbing her forearms slightly. Even though the Vile Peaks were just as hot as yesterday, the river water had been chilly and it would take a bit for the GC to warm up.

''Hm...'' Serah said, brushing her long hair with her fingers. ''Well...'' She started, stretching her hair band with her fingers as she tried to remember. "I first met Snow through a friend of ours, Lebreau. She tended a bar along the beaches back at home that I would often go to after my part time job as cashier at a silversmith."

"It had been a particularly rough day, since it was June and a lot of people like to go there in the summer. I had made it a habit to go to that little tavern after long days and chat with Lebreau; She was nice and really easy to talk to, you know? She'd talked about Snow before, about how stubborn he was, how he would tease her when they were both little kids and how headstrong he was; but she assured me that he was pretty much all talk. Still, he sounded like a nice guy to me.

Then finally one day he actually showed up at the place to pick something up from Lebreau. You know…it's weird to meet somebody for the first time, especially when you've heard so much about them. But Snow was definitely not what I imagined: He was tall, I liked that. I still do. He…he had this smell attached to his clothes; It kind of smelled like gas and….sunshine? If that makes any sense. But he looked like the biker type, and he smelled so masculine it only improved my first impression of him_... _

'_Hey Lebster.' He said, smirking and leaning against the counter. Lebreau glared at him over the rim of a glass she was polishing._

'_I told you not to call me that.' She mumbled with an irritated tone._

'_Sorry, I just like it. I don't do it to be a jerk.'_

'_Could'a fooled me.' Lebreau reached under the counter and produced a lumpy shaped package wrapped in an oil-stained cloth. I could tell by the way she handled it with two hands and from the loud _**thump** _it made on the counter that it was heavy. 'There's the part for your bike. You're lucky I like you otherwise I wouldn't have done this for free.'_

'_Thanks, Leb.' He said, flashing her a grin._

'_Don't mention it. By the way, this is Serah.' She said, gesturing to me. I could see a smile concealed in her eyes. Was she planning something? ' Yo__u know, my friend I've been telling you about?'_

_When he turned to look at me I could see something that looked like surprise, or astonishment in his eyes. "Uh, hey." He said after a pause. "The name's Snow." He offered me a huge gloved hand and I took it politely, giving him a firm shake. I was kind of shy, so I turned away and fixed my attention onto the glass that Lebreau was polishing. I thought he would leave after he got his part from Leb, so I didn't understand why he was still standing at the counter._

_'So uhh..' I heard him start beside me. 'Do you uhm..ehmm, come here often?'_

_'Only after I've had a hard day.' I said, leaning my cheek into my palm. 'This place can get really crazy during the summer, ya know?'_

_'Yeah no kidding.' He chuckled. Then there was a spell of silence which made me feel uncomfortable, but it didn't last for long because what he said next made me flush pink. 'Say uh...would you like a drink?'_

_'No thanks. I don't drink alcohol. I only drink milk.' I gave him a hard stare and allowed just the tiniest smirk to tug the corner of my mouth. 'Straight.'_

_He replied with a bemused grin and took a seat beside me. 'Well, excuse me. Hey Leb.'_

_'Yeah?'_

_'I'll take a tall glass of milk please. Straight. And a shot of whiskey for me.'_

_Leb looked at Snow with a wide grin. 'You got it.' In a matter of seconds the woman placed a high glass of white liquid in front of me. The outside of the glass fogged up and began dripping in perspiration. I blinked my eyes in astonishment. 'Uhh...I was only kidding, you know.'_

_'Well...' There was pause as he threw his head back and took down the shot in one hit. He released a breath and slammed the cup down on the counter. 'Better drink up anyway. Milk builds strong bones and makes big boo- uhhh...' His cheeks went scarlet and he sounded as though he just stopped himself from saying something particularly embarrassing. "Uhh...makes big...uh hands! Err...not that your hands are big I mean I just..."_

_I raised a hand to my lips to try and conceal my giggles but they were painfully obvious. Snow scratched the back of his head and adverted his gaze. He laughed awkwardly with me and smiled sheepishly. 'So yea...do you like...live around here?'_

_I didn't know if it was a good idea to tell him exactly where I lived, I mean, I had just met him. So I decided to be vague. 'I live...' I pointed behind me in a north-westernly direction. 'Down that way with my sister.'_

_'Oh down there?' Snow asked, pointed to where I did. 'Like how far?'_

_'Uh...' I mumbled. As I said, I didn't really want to just hand out my personal information to just anyone who asked._

_'I have a buddy that lives down there. Maybe I'll see you sometime.' He moved to take his hand back and accidentally hit my glass of milk, pouring it all over my purple skirt that I stole from Lightning that morning...yea. I should probably give that back to her now that I think about it... but anyway, I jumped up from my chair and grimaced as the white liquid slid down my legs, making me shiver._

_'Oh geez! I'm so sorry!' Snow exclaimed, getting up too. He quickly grabbed some napkins from a dispenser that was on the counter, nearly hitting the man next to us in the face. 'Sorry.' He apologized again, but I didn't know if he was saying it to me or to the man he almost hit. Probably me._

_He looked down at my skirt and flushed. 'Well uh...here you go.' He said, not wanting act like a perv and wipe my skirt dry for me. I chuckled and took the napkin from him, wiping off the milk myself. He looked away and scratched the back of his head again. I smiled at him as I finished getting myself as dry as I could. I had never had someone be so nervous around me before. It was kind of cute._

_'Hey Snow.' He looked over to me and I could tell that he thought I was going to yell at him or something, but I didn't. 'Would you wanna, I don't know, go out sometime?'_

_He looked completely floored by my question. 'Uh..what? Uh..uh, when? Um...I mean..yea. That would be nice.' He said, grinning at me and I smiled back before Lebreau came back over to us and started yelling. _

_'Aaaaw come on!' The woman growled. 'I _just_ cleaned this bar. _You're _cleaning this up, Snow.' She said throwing her towel at him._

''And that's...how we met and ended up dating.''

''Wow...'' Ander said when Serah's story was finished. ''You sure found yourself a good catch.'' Her grin was strained. From what she had heard, Snow sounded like a real airhead.

Serah giggled as she came and sat down next to her friend. It was fun to just talk to some other girl like this. Her sister never really wanted to talk about girly topics so Serah often found herself talking to Lebreau or her other girl friends when she was having guy troubles. She mostly never had to talk to someone about Snow though, he was ever the perfect boyfriend...to her at least...

''So now that I've talked your ear off.'' Serah said, taking out her hair-tie to put up her semi-dry hair. ''I have a question for you that I've been wondering about for a while.''

Ander raised an eyebrow at Serah. It wasn't often that the older girl pried her for answers about anything. ''Shoot.''

"What does 'Ander'" The pinkette made air quotes with her fingers. ''stand for anyway? I've never heard of that name before.''

The GC chuckled and shook her head. ''That's probably because it isn't a real name.''

''Huh?'' Serah asked, hair-tie hanging from her mouth as she pulled her hair up.

"'Ander'" The brunette made air quotes as well, ''isn't even my real name. It's a nickname my dad gave me.''

Serah snapped her hair-tie on her finger by accident when letting it go around her hair. She rubbed her poor finger and gaped at her friend. ''So I haven't even been calling you by your real name all this time?'' Ander merely shrugged as an answer. ''Why didn't you say anything?'' The pinkette sounded hurt but her facial expression was one of mild amusement.

''You didn't ask.'' Ander said and smirked, getting up from her rock. ''We should probably head back to Dajh and Sky.''

''Wait a minute you.'' Serah said in a voice similar to how Lightning talked to her when Serah did something she didn't like. ''Then what's your real name then?''

Ander stopped and looked back at Serah with one eyebrow raised. ''Why should I tell you?''

''Because we're friends.'' Serah said, taking a step towards Ander. ''Aren't we?''

''Yea, but why would I tell you if I don't get anything out of it?'' Serah could tell that Ander was just messing with her from the mischievous look she had on her face.

''Because that's what friends do?'' Serah tried, smiling. She wasn't really angry at the other girl for not telling her, Serah was the type of person to not pry too much into other people's lives. The pinkette was just happy and a little surprised that the two of them could joke around like this. They had come a long way from that scary time when they had first met, when Ander had her gun pointed at her.

''Pft.'' Ander responded, continuing her walk back towards camp. ''Okay...'' The younger girls voice was laced with sarcasm.

''Oh come on And!'' Serah exclaimed, running to catch up.

* * *

><p>The Gapra Whitewood was everything Ander thought it would be. Her father went many places because of his job to check up on other soldiers and she often heard many a tale from her dad about the beautiful aqua colored leaves of the whitewood and it's exotic animals. The forest was one of Lieutenant Amodar's favorite places to go too for it's amazing scenery and standing here, looking at the forest in all it's splendor, Ander could see why he liked it so much.<p>

There was every possible shade of blue found within the fluorescent leaves and landscape of the white wood. The path had beautiful neon blue lights that guided the way of any traveling passer-byes. It was truly a captivating sight to behold. A gigantic metal door closed behind the small group as Ander let them inside the forest, shaking the ground slightly under their feet.

''Wow...'' Dajh said, completely floored by the pretty lights.

''Don't get distracted.'' Ander scolded him, even though she too was captivated. ''There could be soldiers or wild animals lurking around. Don't let your guard down.''

Dajh didn't seem to hear her though and continued to marvel. Ander frowned and made to reprimand him, but she didn't have to. Serah went over to the small boy and put her hand on top of his poofy hair. ''Dajh, it's time to get going, okay.'' The small boy reluctantly listened that time and Ander led them into the forest to follow Lightning's scent, Skyler faithfully following at her side.

The whitewood, like the Vile Peaks, did not have many monsters left. Ander didn't really expect anything else from Lightning. She usually was very thorough in clearing out areas before moving onwards. She didn't like to have animals sneaking up on her from behind because of a rather funny incident that involved a sneaky gorgonopsid and Lightning's favorite gun holster. The beast had snuck up behind her and ripped it to shreds. Greg had completely laughed at her, getting him a rather painful punch in the face, while Farix wisely chose to remain silent as Ander laughed on the inside instead of out loud.

Since there were less people in Lightning's group, Ander assumed, they were moving quicker and becoming less thorough in their monster clearing. Serah and Ander had to fight off a never-ending swarm of slugs, some silver lobos and one feral behemoth for good measure. Surprisingly, there weren't any soldiers around, which Ander found to be very odd. She would have thought they would have run into some by now, what with them having Dajh with them and all. Weren't they looking for him? Or had they just decided he wasn't worth it?

The hours dragged on slowly as the four of them made their way through the forest. The relative warmth of the whitewood was a big step up from the squelching heat of the Vile Peaks. The air was humid and wet, frizzing the small team's hair as they continued their travels. Ander herself didn't mind the slight poof her hair had acquired from frizzing in the humidity. Dajh didn't worry about the humidity either, his hair was already frizzy, so why should he care? Serah, though, was another story. The pinkette was constantly running her fingers through her hair, silently willing it to stay down.

All too soon, it was time to stop for lunch. Ander pushed the group for much longer today, seeing as the heat wasn't wearing down on them. They had made it through nearly half of the whitewood in only about six hours. There had been some complaints from Dajh about wanting to stop, but they were ignored by Ander. Serah had also suggested that Ander should rest some more, because of her injury, but the younger girl refused. They had wasted enough time in the Vile Peaks.

The brunette GC chose a dark side of one of the walkways that was shaded by a bunch of fallen neon-blue leaves for them to rest up and eat. Serah plopped down under the relative safety the leaves offered and Dajh sat down beside her, feeling his legs throb underneath his pants from all the exercise they had to endure. He had never walked so much or so long in his life, but Ander seemed to be on edge or something so he didn't dare try and push her for more breaks. He might have realized she was a big softie at heart, but she still could be pretty scary when she wanted to be.

Skyler sat down next to Ander. He wasn't tired in the slightest but he too seemed to be worried about something. Lunch was passed around, which was the same as yesterday, dried meats and preserved fruits. As usual, Dajh and Serah conversed whilst Ander remained relatively quiet, only talking when being addressed. The brunette finished her meal quickly and got up. ''I'll go look around.'' The young GC said, leaving with Skyler. Dajh and Serah waved her off but otherwise didn't acknowledge the fact that she was leaving. They were too caught up in their conversation about chocobos.

Ander felt very uneasy as she walked silently along the path, like someone was watching them or something. Even with Skyler there, it was still kind of unnerving to be out here without a lot of other people. She suspected some soldiers that were after Dajh were here, which made her even more restless. She didn't know what she would, or even what she _could_ do if they demanded Dajh come with them. So for now, she would have to make sure they keep moving a fast pace and stay out of trouble. It was the only thing she could come up with to keep Dajh away from those soldiers.

The boy in question seemed to forget the fact that he was in danger. Didn't he realize that this wasn't some picnic? There were people _after_ Dajh, and things could get dangerous out here real fast if you weren't paying attention. She guessed Dajh didn't think much of it because he was trying to forget about his horrible experience, but that was no excuse for forgetting that they were out in the dangerous wilderness. He almost walked off the edge of the platform because he was so ditzy!

At least Serah knew something was going on. She tried to stay light-hearted and nice for Dajh, from what Ander could see. But the pinkette knew when to be serious. Serah was really getting the hang of fighting, which Ander was extremely grateful for, and she also knew that something was going on. She would look over at Ander constantly with a sort of nervous look in her eyes, silently asking what was going on. Ander couldn't answer her question though, because she didn't know either.

Ander stopped for a moment, pinching the bridge of her nose in thought. The thing that was watching their group was beginning to get on her nerves. She wished she just knew what it was already so everyone could calm down. Skyler's tail was raised whenever he could hear some rustling nearby with his sensitive ears. Ander watched his tense behavior and confirmed that Skyler knew there was a threat out there too. Something just wasn't right. There wasn't much to find in her little solo-exploration endeavor and the way Skyler was acting was kind of freaking the young girl out, so she headed back to Serah and Dajh to get everyone moving again.

Skyler chose to remain outside the little fort of leaves. He sat down outside the entrance, as still as a statue. His ears were the only things that moved as he picked up different sounds in the forest. Ander didn't push him to come inside for she felt the exact same way he did. There was something out there, watching them.

Ander peeled back the leaves to the group's hiding place and raised an eyebrow in confusion at what she saw. Serah and Dajh were sitting across from each other, a stack of cards in between them and dozens of pairs of cards around them. Serah looked up from her hand of cards and smiled at her friend. ''Hey? Find anything?'' She asked as Dajh picked out a card from his hand.

''Got any Brynhildrs?'' The little boy asked, stumbling over the word a little bit from it's strange spelling. Serah knew what he meant though and shook her head.

''Go fish.''

''What...are you doing?'' Ander asked, slightly irritated that they were so carefree in this situation.

''Playing Go Fish!'' Dajh exclaimed, beaming up at the GC from his spot on the floor.

''I found the cards in the bottom of my bag.'' Serah explained, picking up a card from her hand. ''Got any Odins?''

''Aw man!'' Dajh reluctantly gave the pink-haired girl his horsey card and she put it down as a pair next to her. So far she had seven and he had five. He grumbled to himself before picking up another card. ''Got any Hecatons?''

Serah gave one of her cards to Dajh as Ander watched them play for a moment more before pinching the bridge of her nose again in irritation. ''Do you guys even realize what is going on?''

''Yea I know how to play.'' Dajh said, looking at her with a 'duh' expression. ''Do you?''

''Oh, for Etro's sake!''

''Oh! I have her!'' Dajh exclaimed happily, showing his card of the Goddess Etro to Ander. The brunette face-palmed and sighed.

''Let's...just go.''

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><p>It seemed like an eternity before night fell. They were almost at the end of Gapra Whitewood by now as they came upon a big open space in the platform. There was big rings surrounding the platform both below it and above it. Ander looked up at the rings and then to the orange switch a little ways ahead of the group. It appeared that this platform was actually a rather large elevator. This didn't surprise her, seeing as there were many elevators that they had to go on to get through this place.<p>

There were those blue florescent leaves surrounding the edges of the circular elevator and they looked a little funny from what Ander could tell. Dajh walked into the middle of the platform, just wanting to get to where they were going so he could rest. ''Stay close.'' Ander said in a harsh tone. There was something really strange about those leaves. Serah looked to where Ander was looking and she saw the weird blue patterns behind the leaves as well. And was it just her or were the leaves moving closer?

''Dajh, get over here!'' Serah called and the boy looked back at her as if she was crazy.

''But why?''

''Now!'' Ander yelled and the little boy immediately came back to the girls' sides. Ander sounded really worried just now and it made him worried as well. He hid behind Serah and Ander as Skyler moved in front of the group, barring his fangs.

The blue lights from the beings behind the leaves and from the leaves themselves were starting to make Ander feel a little dizzy. There were so many blue lights and they were all moving around together, much like how the effect you get when staring at a pack of zebras: the lines merge together to confuse their enemies. The leaves moved slowly closer, forcing the group to back up until the sound of a gate turning on could be heard behind them.

They all gasped and looked back to see a blue neon gate had just closed behind them, trapping them in the elevator much like the animals of the forest were locked in cages.

''Well well well, look what I've caught in my net.'' Dajh visibly cowered behind Ander as he heard this voice, small hands holding onto her cape in desperation.

Serah raised an eyebrow at the small boy's behavior as the leaves dropped to reveal Psicom soldiers wearing blue neon lights in their armor. The crowd opened to reveal a blonde woman wearing a rather detailed dress and a pair of glasses. She held a baton and lightly hit her open palm with it as she stepped forward.

''Lieutenant Colonel Nabaat.'' Ander addressed, looking very unhappy to see the older woman. Serah looked at her, confused.

''You know her?'' The pinkette whispered.

''She's the commander of Psicom.'' Ander explained briefly as Skyler continued to growl at the enemies, uncaring that this woman was much higher in rank than his owner. If she was a threat to Ander and the others, then Skyler wouldn't let her near. ''She graduated head of her class, supervises the L'Cie phenomena and is a huge suck-up to Dysley.''

Jihl chuckled cruelly as she came to stop a good distance away from Ander's group. ''A suck up? Please.'' She flipped her long blonde hair behind her in a dramatic fashion. ''I only do what the Primarch asks of me. Flawlessly, mind you.''

''That's called being a suck up.'' Ander said, frowning as she reached down to grabbed the handle of her gunblade. She felt Dajh squeeze her hand from behind her, hard. From the way she was clinging to her hand, she knew he was terrified. She squeezed his hand back to comfort the boy, letting him know that they didn't plan to let this bimbo take him away.

''Call me what you will.'' Jihl said, pulling her gloves up tighter on her hands. 'At least I follow orders.''

''What's that supposed to mean?''

''There was an emergency order dispersed about three days ago calling all military personnel to be on the look out for this boy.'' She took a poster from a nearby soldier and held it up so that Ander could see. ''And to report in if he was found. You refused, obviously.''

''No. Actually I didn't get the memo. See I'm from the _Guardian Corps,_'' Ander spoke slowly. "We do the work our segment tell us to. We don't have time to babysit Psicom."

Jihl's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. ''It was sent to all military radios.''

''Mine was out of juice, sorry.'' Serah looked at Ander. The girl's eyes were fierce and Serah was rather surprised to see the younger girl talk like this. She usually was very quiet and sometimes shy. But now...Ander was like a different person.

''No matter.'' Jihl shrugged, giving the soldier back the poster. ''I will be taking Dajh now. He is Psicom's property. And we will be having him back.''

''Dajh isn't your property!'' Serah shouted in defiance. Jihl looked at her as if she were a bug, eyes judging and cruel. This girl seemed familiar to her for some reason, but she would look into that later. She had bigger fish to fry.

''Is that so?'' Jihl said, walking a horizontal path in front of the group like she was hot stuff. ''The Primarch himself gave me instruction to watch over Dajh and see that his focus is completed.'' She stopped in front of Ander and pointed her baton right in the girl's face. ''And you, Ander Amodar, should know better than to resist his wishes. Guardian Corps and Psicom members alike must follow his rule.'' She quickly stepped back from the group as Skyler snapped at her. She shook off the feeling of almost being bitten and confidently tossed her hair back again. ''So what will it be? Resist or surren-''

Serah cut the woman off. ''Resist! You can't just take someone against their will, not matter how old they are or if they're a L'Cie or not! It's against human rights!''

''You forget that Dajh is in fact, _not_ human.'' Jihl said, mocking, and Dajh gripped Ander's hand so tight that it hurt. He hated being reminded that he wasn't human anymore. Jihl always told him that when he was in captivity, to make him remember his place.

''If anyone's inhuman around here, it's you!'' Ander accused, taking a step forward. ''I've heard all the scandals about you, Nabaat. You're sadistic, cold-hearted and cruel. You'll kill anyone who doesn't cooperate with you and you regard all L'Cie, Pulse or Cocoon, as subhuman.'' The blonde haired woman's eyes narrowed at Ander as the girl pressed onward. ''What you're doing is justice, it's tyranny. You, nor the Primarch, have the right to detain Dajh for doing absolutely nothing wro-''

Ander stopped with her bashing of the Lieutenant Colonel when a soldier ran up to her, faster than Skyler could protect them and pointed a gun at her temple. ''I believe.'' Jihl said. ''That you should learn your place, child.'' Serah gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth in shock as the soldier clicked his gun with his finger, warning the group to stay where they are, lest their leader be killed. ''If you want to keep your life and your position, I suggest you step off.'' Jihl snapped her fingers and the entire circle of soldier's came towards the group. ''Take Dajh, by force if necessary.''

Dajh held fast onto Ander's cape as a bunch of hands grabbed him. The soldier could do nothing but stand there as all the other soldiers pointed their guns at her, Serah and Sky. The husky tried to defend Dajh, biting whomever touched the small child, but Ander commanded him to be calm. She didn't want her dog dead and...there was nothing she or he could do at this point.

''Ander...'' Serah whispered when she called off Skyler. She couldn't believe that this was happening. Both the girls watched helplessly as Dajh was dragged over to Jihl.

''Relax, child.'' Jihl said, smirking. ''We are taking you to see your father.'' Dajh's eyes lit up at the mention of his dad for a brief moment before he started crying. He wanted to see his dad, he truly did, but not with this woman. He didn't want her to hurt his daddy too.

''Serah!'' Dajh sniffled as he was taken away. ''Sky!...Ander!'' He called out to the rest of the group, but nothing could be done to help. The boy was dragged onto a ship that was parked nearby and once Jihl and Dajh were safely on the plane, the rest of the soldiers were called off of Serah, Ander and Sky, leaving the three of them there to mourn the loss of their friend...

* * *

><p><strong>Hey Hey Hey here ya go :D Hope you enjoyed :DDD I really had fun writing it, especially the card game part! And a special shout out to A Midnight's Dream, my editor and bff! She wrote most of the part with Snow and Serah so yea, thankies bestie! Luv chu! <strong>

**So yea guys, I got a question: Should Serah get a summon? Like what all the other characters in the game? I have a summon in mind and I was just wondering what you guys might think. So yea, let me know what you think of this chap and if Serah should get a summon in a review please, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts! Kkz, til next time!**

**Ja!**

**~Migoto Nami**

* * *

><p>Random Short, Alternate Ending~<p>

There were those blue florescent leaves surrounding the edges of the circular elevator and they looked a little funny from what Ander could tell. Dajh walked into the middle of the platform, just wanting to get to where they were going so he could rest. ''Stay close.'' Ander said in a harsh tone. There was something really strange about those leaves. Serah looked to where Ander was looking and she saw the weird blue patterns behind the leaves as well. And was it just her or were the leaves moving closer?

The blue lights behind the leaves were zig-zagging weaving in perfect sync, making it hard for the group to see with all the blurring lines. A couple lines were red though, and Ander took out her gun and shot at the different set of lights.

''Yeowch!'' A soldier yelled and popped out from behind the leaves. ''My buscuits are burning!''

''Aw, Phill! I told you! Blue lights! Blue!'' Jihl yelled from her own hiding spot, the rest of the soldiers just letting their leaves drop to the ground, revealing themselves.

''I didn't get the text message. My phones a dinosaur! And besides, I look sexy in red!''

''That's no excuse!'' Jihl roared, stomping her foot. Everyone's attention was on Phil and Jihl as they battled it out over which color was sexier, and on whom.

''Let's...get out of here.'' Ander said, an anime sweatdrop forming on the back of her head as she turned the group around and left, leaving the soldiers to duke it out amongst themselves.


End file.
